Chapter One

	The orange rays of the setting sun rained down upon the City that Never Sleeps, New York. A summer haze made the very air waver like reflections in a pool. The streets were filled with New York traffic, at least the main streets. The shadows of four people lengthened as they raced to get home before dark. Above them, the buildings loomed above those four, in fact everybody really. A claustrophobic atmosphere surrounded the city as every available space of land was choked and crushed to wring out the maximum amount of floor space. At times it seemed like the architecture didn’t possess the right angles so beloved by humanity. However this group of four didn’t let the appearance of this city, all cities actually get them down. The voice of one of them could be overheard to say this “WE WOULDN’T BE THIS LATE IF WE HADN’T TAKEN THAT SHORTCUT THROUGH THE PARK!” a flattop blonde guy spoke to his tan brown haired friend named Ophois Seif. 

This teen who shouted was Jeran De Vere, only son to a good family, third generation immigrant from the United Kingdom. Jeran’s flattop hair was spiked up, kept there with the occasional use of hair gel. He wore a soccer shirt which was navy with yellow highlights and similar due to the hot weather soccer shorts. Tall with a strong chin and a soccer player’s body, Jeran had the ability to break a lot of hearts. However his was a noble soul, and thankfully for the hearts of women everywhere Jeran was oblivious to the crushes of his admirers.   

“Well you did want to get there fast enough for that ice cream sale Jeran” Ophois, lean and wiry retorted to what the group considered to their leader. Ophois wore well worn canvas brown short pants.

 The browned haired, browned eyed teen named John Wilber agreed that it should be Jeran’s fault that they were out so late. After all if it wasn’t for the De Vere’s insistence that they get to O’Tolley’s Summer Ice Cream Blowout as soon as possible then Ophois wouldn’t have suggested that they take that shortcut through the park. Of course the shortcut was anything but, as miscellaneous people, signs, bad luck, and being just plain lost lead to the group being late to the sale and consequently getting back home as the sun was beginning to set.

	“Can we hurry?” The fourth and last member of their group, an Asian by the name of William Lee said. His worried eyes were visible through his rectangular glasses as he continued. “It’s going to get dark soon…” 

	“Aw come off it Will, still scared over a little darkness?” Jeran joked, giving Will a gentle poke in the shoulder. It was something that the British descended American teased the foreign immigrant about. This was something of a private joke between the two who were friends since primary school or known as kindergarten in some parts of the world. Their first meeting was rather indicative of their relationship, Jeran made fun of little William’s glasses, which were circular back then. But when other kids began to make fun of the Asian calling him four-eyes among other names, Jeran rallied to the boy’s defense in fury resulting in quite a tussle on the playground. 

	“It’s just the streets aren’t safe after dark” Will replied “Remember that policeman who was torn apart several days ago? They still haven’t caught who did it yet.” The Asian looked behind him as the street lights began to turn on, sensing the approaching night. 

	“Don’t worry so much Will, we’ll be alright.” John said, the four slowed down after all they couldn’t keep on running for so long and had to catch their breath sooner or later. The teen was the most recent addition to the gang of friends. “Besides we still have to walk Ophois home, you didn’t forget did you?”

	Will shook his head to say he didn’t forget about Ophois. The third person who joined their little quartet. Jeran and Will met the boy in the second grade. Ophois who seemed to have blood from the Middle East came to Ms. Kelly’s second grade class with clothes that while clean could have serviced for rags. 

	Now Ophois was in a family of only himself and his mother. Ms. Seif worked long hours to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Sadly to make ends meet, compromises had to be made and clothing was one of those compromises. At the time Ophois was wearing a beat up canvas shirt and jeans with many patches to cover bigger holes than those in Swiss cheese. At least Ophois was always clean; standards had to be upheld in Ms. Seif’s mind. It was a mindset held by those clinging on above a certain line. Every one may not go to bed well fed, or have clothing that fits well and is whole but everything would at least be clean!  

	Kids at that age had the unfortunate tenancy to be kids, that is to say, cruel and ruthless towards anything different from the norm. Ophois’ clothing became a target of childish sniping. Except for Jeran whose integrity was roused to fury again and William who was moved by compassion and those two quickly became friends with Ophois. After  the sight of Jeran flying into raging fury, and Will at least nudging those who were down with his foot, bonds often quickly form. 

	So the band of four kept walking through the trash-lined and darkening streets until they’ve been passed by a dirty and dingy alleyway. “Did you hear that?”  William asked, he heard something from the trash bag filled dark side-path. There weren’t any cars or any other people on the street so that couldn’t be the source of the noise. Jeran and John heard and agreed with the Asian boy’s assessment. They turned to look to see what the source of the noise that they heard was. Ophois on the other hand didn’t and when he noticed that the rest of the group wasn’t walking with him, he turned back and asked what they were looking at. Jeran silently pointed inside the dark alleyway. From the alleyway they could spot dark towering shapes if they looked closely enough. Then they realize what the sound that was coming from the alley. It was muffled screaming came from a huddling pile that was being torn apart by the three towering shapes that were standing above it. 

	“Hey! What’s going on here then?” shouted Jeran, in hindsight perhaps this wasn’t the best idea but Jeran could never stand by while he was seeing wrongdoing being done. His few friends often complained that he was stupidly noble due to the trouble that usually came along. 
Trouble would be a very good name for the dark shapes that turned towards the group and the boys began to hear growling sounds coming from the shapes. However what caught the group’s attention was a sad gurgling sound that came from further behind the shapes. It stopped abruptly and there was silence.  Then there was a rather disturbing laugh coming from the shapes and guttural words that put a chill in the boys’ stomachs. “fRrrrresH MeeeeAT…” Were the words that went into the boys’ ears, the voice that said them seemed to have trouble with some syllables? As if the mouth that spoke wasn’t human in shape.

	As the figures approached, all four teens could see what monstrosities approached. There were three of them, twisted and bizarre, pointed ears, patches of fur, and glowing saliva. One possessed limbs that bent at unnatural angles and another had flaps giving the impression of wings. All were tall and leaned forward with predatory intent.

	William began to hyperventilate because a strong tailwind from the creatures blew the harsh tang of blood into the boy’s noise. To Jeran, Ophois, and John however, the three felt something stirring within them. A hot, primal, boiling unknown hate was rising in  The scent of blood reached Jeran’s nose and the smell grew even sharper and the boy somehow heard a rasping breath and then stillness. That told him exactly what happened and Jeran blew up in fury. “You BASTARDS, YOU ABSOLUTE BAS GRARHRR… ” 

	Jeran lunged forward, his form shifted as he grew taller, his clothes began to shred from the tension as bone, muscle, and fur emerged and expanded on Jeran’s body. The teen’s face lengthened into a snout and nails changed to claws. Senses began to change, scents became stronger and Jeran’s hearing became sharper as ears peaked into canine points. As for his sight, it didn’t improve in a conventional way. What improved was Jeran’s ability to notice detail in motion. In the end what leapt towards the monsters was a white furred tense muscled nine foot graceful wolf man engine of death. At the very same time, both John and Ophois realized the fate of the body behind the creatures and anger began to flow through them as well. Their bodies too began to change well, expanding into towering beings with the heads of wolves. Yet their shapes were slightly different than Jeran’s. Ophois’ body was much leaner than Jeran’s current form with a lengthened snout and darkish black fur. Though the wolf Ophois had less muscle mass, he was far from weak. John on the other hand had fur that was a glossy red black and was more heavy set than Ophois. His head had a piercing stare directed at the approaching monstrous trio. 

	The murderous creatures answered Jeran’s leap with one of their own, they soared into the white furred wolf man, and well one of them did manage to collide with the white furred humanoid wolf that was Jeran. Another managed to crash into a group of trash cans. Why was that? Well a group trying to body slam into a body in motion isn’t as easy as some would think. Another missed Jeran completely, landing safely but not painlessly flat on his or perhaps her face. Not that it would make any change to its looks.

 The one that successfully tackled Jeran slammed into the wolf man, the creature sending Jeran off balance. Yet Jeran shifted his ground and stance putting him into an easier position to claw the bastard right in the face. It didn’t seem to be a conscious idea but an instinctual motion. So claw he did, Jeran completely tore into the creature’s face, rending away flesh and blood to splatter on the wall. At least it could be blood, except that blood generally didn’t glow green or have a smell that reminded one of a septic tank.

The creature turned back towards Jeran with rage in its eyes. Its cheek’s skin was dislocated from its base causing a tear in its mouth where greenish saliva dripped down with blood. It roared a challenge tearing more at the wound and spilling more fluid on the floor. It leapt forward, mad vengeance and fury burning through its baleful eyes like kindling of a rather distasteful fire.

	Then Ophois and John leapt into the fray, their instincts telling them to assist their friend. Both slashed at the wounded monster, curved claws glinting in the fading light. Ophois managed to catch the beast with the edge of his own claws though pushing John away from his target. The other two creatures stabilized their hurt comrade between their arms but the wounded one pushed them away. The three monsters and the three males, now wolves dived into a brawl. Claws flew and fangs were bared, John, Ophois and Jeran were doing very well, leaving several wounds in their foes. 

	But the trio wasn’t used to these forms, even though some sort of intuitive memory took over. The three were slowly but surely losing the battle, being driven back by claw and tooth. In the shelter given by a group of trash cans, Will cowered. When those creatures stalked forward enough to be seeable, the teen’s windpipe began to close quickly. When Will saw his friends turn with hulking lupine death engines, that restriction of airflow turning into a full blown panic attack. Some sort of fear, deep and primal seized the male’s mind when he saw John, Ophois and Jeran’s transformation and it was all that he could do not to run from there screaming. 

	However when one of those things came closer and nearly took off Jeran’s head with a swift swipe at the now white furred wolf man, something snapped in Will. He couldn’t let his friends die, in spite of whatever had happened to them. The human got up shakily to his feet. Yet he couldn’t bear to look at the violence occurring in front of him. Except there was a sickening crunch and Will tilted his head up to see that the white werewolf that Jeran had turned into was on the ground and one of the monsters was above ready to deal a death blow.  William dashed forward as the creature raised forth its claw and the boy found himself in front of a towering living engine of death. Panic began to take over the human’s mind over again. The moment that the monster swiped down Will knew he was going to die. 

	But somewhere in the boy’s heart, he knew that he could never die content leaving his friends there. In the face of certain death his thoughts raced and came to a firm resolve. Even if he couldn’t do anything, Will could certainly be a distraction. “Run guys!” he shouted. Will closed his eyes and thrust forward with his fist. A wild blow with no strength from a certified weakling. 

And the dying sun flared once more, illuminating the world before the darkness of night sank. But still a sun continued to shine till it too dimmed.

--------------------------------------------

William suddenly woke up in a cold sweat, throwing the covers off his bed. The lancing rays of the morning sun shone down through the gap in his room curtains. He blinked and wondered when did he just get into bed. The boy went and left his room, heading straight downstairs where his parents were waiting. “Mom? Dad?” Will said “What happened last night?”
----------------------------------------------

	It was a forest, filled with trees that towered above them. The aforementioned “them” were John, Jeran and Ophois sprawled across the forest littered ground. The trees of the area were varied, breeches, oaks, and spruces. The light of early morning filtered down through the gaps between the leaves. However there was enough of a clearing that people could see the pale purple sky that was slowly turning blue. It appeared that they stayed there the entire night, that and they had different clothing from what they remembered.  

It was Jeran who woke first, groggy and wondering what happened last night. He lifted his head up, holding his hand to its side. He couldn’t remember anything from that time clearly. Things came in flashes, an acid stink, and looming shadows, streaks of red spilling upon the ground, gleams of sharpness, the scent of sweat, fear, and loosened bowels and oddly enough warm light shining down. The crack of a twig, audible to even human ears drew the boy to look around wildly for the source. 

Both John and Ophois followed Jeran’s lead shortly after except they recalled a bit more but not much. Things they observed were a bit more sharper in their memory but that was all.  They too observed their surroundings after seeing Jeran looking around with an expression of caution on his face. Everyone in the group’s hearing was good by human standards as they could tell of faint rustling sounds. It appeared to be that someone or something was moving towards them. In Jeran’s mind the fact that there was any rustling at all at an even pace seemed to tell him that what or who this was, it didn’t really matter that the boys could hear the rustling. “Who’s there?” John demanded, not really the best idea. After all it just gave away their position to whoever was near them. However John could be given a break on that in regards of the situation that they he and his friends were in.

 “Show yourselves!” Jeran followed up with his most commanding voice. Out from the shadows of another tree came a man, dressed in tribal leathers and fringe. He looked a few years shy of entering his forties; however this man was still from his breathing in very good physical condition.
“Your bravery is commendable if foolhardy” This man spoke as if addressing the air. “And manners befitting of the Wyrmbringers.” There came the sound of another approaching person, one who was less careful about stealth. In Jeran’s mind and training, it was good enough to blend in with the normal sounds of a wooded area making it difficult to even tell it wasn’t the usual motions of forest life.

“Do give them leeway” Another man just appeared as if he was already there the entire time. On his face was utter serenity and simple clothing, no brand names visible in sight. He looked to be much younger than the first man though not by much. “You should know how they’re all are in at the start. But really fending off three Black Spirals at their first change and outright killing one!” There was a hint of approval and perhaps slightly some awe as well.

“Well you don’t have Silver Fang messengers barging in every ten minutes!” The first man snapped back. His irradiation colored with the stress of dealing not with polite requests but quite blunt demands. “It’s ridiculous what they’ve brought back.”

“Now elder, you know as well as I that we had to save these cubs. We can’t let a single one of them be captured.” The second man said as he folded his arms.

“Excuse me” Ophois said through gritted teeth “Would you mind telling us what’s going on here.”

“Learn some respect pup” The more modern dressed man shot back. “But still, it’s time for you to learn the truth. Remember what happened last night?” The boys blinked and each one of them slowly nodded and realization began to dawn upon them. “Well here’s the thing, you’re not human anymore, you’re werewolves. You are Garou.”

To Be Continued….