• As per usual, I found myself making dinner for all of my friends. They bought all of the food and I cooked it. The summer was ending, but the heat had just begun. The air conditioning unit I had just installed was going full blast, but with the stove and oven going, I was burning hot in my large kitchen. I had to cook a lot of food for my friends and me. One of my friends also happened to be sitting on the couch watching television when he was supposed to be grating cheese for me. He also happened to be my lazy a** older brother. I decided he needed some motivation, so I picked up the block of cheddar cheese and threw it at his head. Cal heard the cheese coming at him a moment too late. The cheese made a thump against his head. The cheese fell behind the couch and Cal rubbed the back of his head.
    “Owww, what the hell was that for!” Cal shouted at me.
    “For not doing what I asked you to do ten minutes ago. You said that you'd grate the cheese because you want dinner as soon as you can shove it into that useless mouth of yours.” I shouted back at him. Cal's angry yellow eyes stared at me and I stared back with my gold ones. My brother and I were born exactly a year apart, but we looked like we could be twins. We were the same height and almost the same hair and eye color. I had silver hair and gold eyes and Cal had a grayish colored hair and duller yellow eyes. We also had the same look of annoyance and anger in our eyes. Cal broke off first and grabbed the cheese from behind our couch. I turned on my heel and finished the casserole I was getting ready to put in the oven. I seethed silently while I could hear that Cal was taking his anger out on the cheese.
    Out at the edge of the town I heard Ichie's truck come into my hearing abilities. Ichie was ten miles out, but he was still too far to tell if he was alone or not, but I could sense that all of my other friends were in the town at the mall. I lived on the very outskirts of the small town and on the edge of the forest and the surrounding forest. Perfect for what my friends and I were.
    I was still mad at Cal, but I kept all emotion out of my voice when I asked, “Do you know where Ichie went to? He just came into hearing distance. He's been gone since this morning.”
    Cal ground his teeth together. He hated it when I hid myself from other people, especially him. Unlike me, Cal let all of his emotions known to everyone. I could tell he was even more irritated at me when he replied, “He said that he's bringing his pen pal over here to stay for senior year.”
    “He what?” I raised my voice several octaves. Cal was startled at my sudden out burst, “What's wrong?”
    I lowered my voice, but my seething anger was more than an undertone, “Ichie's friend. Is. A. Vampire.”
    “Oh. s**t. This might not work out then. We are enemies with vampires, right? An instinct to kill the other race.” Cal whispered back, forgetting our fight. I nodded. The truth was that my friends and I were werewolves. There were six in our pack; me, Cal, Kana, Ichie, Wren, and Ember. The rank of the pack was in that order. I was the pack leader and Cal and Kana were basically my two advisors. We were the head of the pack. Ichie and Wren joined a little after us (they were cousins) and Ember joined last, just a month ago.
    I saw Cal tense and I waited a second. Somehow, he could sense if something was going to happen to a pack member He had to answer the questions I asked when he was like this. I took my apron off and wiped my hands off on it as I said, “Who, what, and where?”
    “A rogue werewolf. She attacked a human from this town and she is going to attack Ichie and...wait Fern don't leave yet!”
    It was already too late; I was out in the forest running. I was running in my human form, but it wasn't fast enough. Stopping, barefoot, in the forest I let my wolf form come to me. That moment's change was a werewolf's most vulnerable moment, but it made me feel like I can do anything I wanted to do. I shook my silvery coat and charged into the underbrush. I was the fastest in the pack and the second strongest. I moved swiftly through the forest full of ferns and redwood trees. Usually this forest was full of sounds and movement from birds and other small prey, but the forest was dead silent. The stench of human blood filled my nose and I caught a hint of another smell. It was vile and I have smelled it before. There was mad werewolf loose. Werewolves went mad two ways: one, they have silver in them and can't get it out before they die from silver poisoning or second, a werewolf was bitten by a vampire. I've seen both cases and they weren't pretty.
    I ran faster now, as fast as I could go without running into trees. I ignored the burs and leaves that stuck to my coat as I raced towards the slow moving werewolf. The smell of blood got stranger as I neared the she wolf. The mad werewolf was still holding on to the human! That fact made it much easier to catch up and I slowed as I saw her faint silhouette in the underbrush. I followed the she wolf, watching carefully. She had a creamy orange coat, but it was dull and covered in dirt and blood. Her gait was uneven, because she was limping. There was foam at the edge of her mouth and the look in her eyes made me think she was hallucinating. The orange wolf entered a clearing and I leaped at her with a fierce snarl. I had lunged for the she wolf's neck, but she dropped the body and moved. I ripped open her foreleg instead. Her healing didn't work while she was in this mad state.
    The she wolf growled and snapped her teeth at me. I growled back, forcing my rank on the werewolf. The she wolf attacked me, but I jumped out of her reach and she screeched half-humanly. Ichie heard the screech and pulled into the forest. He raced on four legs toward me. I felt searing pain on my muzzle as I realized that I hadn't been watching when I was listening for Ichie. Warm blood seeped through my fur, but the pain faded and the gash was healed. I circled the she wolf, growling at her. The slash on her leg was bleeding heavily, she slowed and I lunged for her throat, this time hitting my mark and crushing her throat as Ichie flew into the clearing. His white coat shimmering in the daylight and his black eyes were cautious and worried.