"It was this day of that year again. Why can't they just disappear and leave us alone?" Poks, my partner, grumbled.

Today is the eleventh day of the month of Salmonath. This day is the time where the pack's borders need to be patrolled tighter than ever as lone wolves would try to breach the border to kidnap women and children.

"Rogues are lawless, Poks. We can only wish that they would listen but we both knew that they wouldn't." I winced at the sudden pain from the corner of my swollen lower lip.

I stretched my aching arms and patted the dusts that clung to my shorts away, as I did the same on my shirt. The adrenaline from having a one-on-one fight was slowly fading off.

Feeling exhausted, I raised my leg and nudged Poks who were still lying on the ground gasping for breath.

"Hey! Let's get going."

"Five more minutes!" he groaned in displeasure.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. The pain from my shoulder feels so bad that I expected it to bruise black and blue tomorrow.

"No, it's getting late."

The woods are dangerous especially when darkness starts to envelope the surroundings. Rubbing my arms unconsciously made me realize that my hairs are standing on their ends.

"Geez, why are you so naggy?"

I ignored him as my eyes shifted into the dark woods. The sudden feeling of unease made me restless. "Hey don't you think it's too quiet here? Poks-"

The words suddenly died from my throat as a powerful force slammed my body into the ground. My eyes blurred for a moment that feels so long and yet everything happens in a blink of an eye.

"Ugh!" I sucked in a cold breath as pain erupted from the back of my head.

"Alleria-! Fuck-!"

Through my blurry eyes, I witnessed a menacing wolf lunged at Poks, who was about to run towards me. It was the same wolf that slammed me to the ground.

The flashing red eyes send chills down my spine. A werewolf that has fallen from the blood moon's curse. A rogue!

Fear, shock and pain made my mind numb and yet my hand quickly dug into my boots and dug a dagger. It was slender and short but it was the only thing I have right now.

Amidst my shaking heart, I shouted, as I threw the dagger at him, "Poks, use this! Be careful!"

Just as I tossed the weapon towards him, a nasty smell of danger came so suddenly at my side as another piercing pain shot through my flesh. The metallic scent of blood covered my nose as bloody claw marks appeared on my right leg.

I jumped back and threw a punch towards its eye causing it to whimper, however another wolf bit my shoulder. I tried fighting back by grabbing the last knife on my boots and stabbing it as hard as I could but it dodged.

The sound of my bones breaking accompanied by the excruciating pain almost made me pass out. I bit my lip and struggled.

But as if it is not enough to tore my flesh and break my bones, the wolf bit my shoulder before flinging me into the air.

"Argh!" I gasped in pain as my body hit a sturdy tree. I vomited a mouthful of blood.

Through my dizziness, I witness three red eyed wolves let out maniacal growls that echoes through the forest. The howls came from the different directions surrounding our territory. As if the scent of blood further excites their thirst for chaos, it was chilling.

I clenched my hand into fist as I felt my strength leaving my body together with my consciousness slipping away.

'It feels like a little rest would make my body recover. Just a little would do. Just a little...'

I know I shouldn't but my body is badly craving it.

My body leaned forward and slumped on the forest floor but I couldn't care less.

"....erria."

Who?

My blurry sight was welcomed with darkness.

"It's okay...Ria..."

My sight gradually sharpens as I feel a familiar scent wrapping around me. I fought the instinct to sleep and drove the haze that was covering my mind.

"I-is that you, D-dad?" I stammered and frowned because my throat feels dry and speaking hurts.

He hummed, clutching my head close to his chest he assured, "It's me, Ria... close your eyes."

"Dad?"

I pushed his chest a little but my fingertips felt like a warm sticky liquid on his skin. It was as if a bucket full of ice was splashed over my head. I looked at his chest and raised my gaze at him with my eyes wide open.

Blood was flowing out from his mouth and his chest was pierced by a wood.

"No! Dad?!" I panicked.

I look around us to look for help but a couple of unmoving bodies surround us; they are unconscious, crushing my hope.

Burning red anger filled my heart when the wood suddenly retracted to his back causing his blood to flow out quickly and a voice filled with malice sounded above our head.

"It'll be over soon."

"How dare you!"

My mind went black and only Dad's weak beating heart and the culprit flash alternately before my eyes. My heart, clouded with vicious thirst for revenge, painfully beat as a guttural growl tore through my lips. The faint connection that I shared with my wolf feels overwhelmingly strong.

With a snap, an unfamiliar yet almost instinctive burning sensation covered my skin as crackling of bones realigning themselves coursed through my body.

My nails turned sharp and elongated as midnight black fur stretched out of my pores. My numb body was once again subjected into an even greater pain. It was as though I was about to lose my mind and die from pain, sadness and anger.

"Ahhh!!!"

My sight turned clearer and my hearings turned sharper but my eyes never left the man holding the wood. Gathering my strength on my limbs, I lunged at him faster than I was expecting, with my fangs aiming for his neck.

"You can't be-! Beast-!" I cut his pathetic scream off.

My fangs sank into his flesh without giving him the chance to utter another word.

I wanted to rip him apart.

I gave him no mercy, not even a bit of guilt.

"Angelo!" a horrified scream came from my left.

The high-pitched voice came from a woman wearing a dark long-sleeve dress with the skirt touching the forest floor.

"Stop! What did you do to my son? How could you kill my lovely son?! You monster! You killed my son!"

Her son?

Like a bystander, I watched the scene unfold. Instinct dominated my mind, my judgement clouded, but my purpose remained. Revenge.

Baring my fangs at her in warning, I took a glance at the sky as all of a sudden bolts of lightning glazed with purple dance above us.

An ominous feeling started crawling on my skin. I took a tentative step back shielding Dad from her. I stared vigilantly at the woman but then I couldn't move my eyes away from her.

'No, I can't move at all.'

Her eyes are gleaming with a strange purple hue. Words that I don't understand began pouring out her mouth.

".....From this moment forth, I - the eleventh seat of the covenant, Axia, through my blood and soul," the woman gasped as black blood streaked from the corner of her eyes as she continued to chant.

The ground before me suddenly ignited, creating a black circle of fire. The fire made me feel so sick that my breath became labored. Her chants echo inside my mind endlessly.

My heart jolted as if a knife was abruptly buried deep in my heart but the heart wrenching pain kept hurting. As if it stems from the depth of my soul, it is unbearable.

"You, who stole my son's life right before me, shall never forget the feeling of missing a piece of your soul all your pitiful life!"

I look at her in a daze with my whole being shaken to the core.

When I understood her words it was already too late.

'No!'

Tears began pouring down my face as it feels as though another part of me was being forcibly pulled away from my grasp. The urgency, the need to grasp my will and the maddening urge to succumb to her power is frightening.

My limbs gave up as my bones forcibly shrunk and adjusted themselves, over and over again. My pores emitted the foul smell of rotting blood as black blood flows out of my skin.

"Stop this! Please stop! I'm begging you!"

Her skin ignited with the same black flame and her crazed laughter never stops until the flame engulfs to her completely.

The sparks of flame carried her last dying wish, announcing her stubbornness for revenge, "Die with me beast!"

As if to confirm my guess, the circle of black flame grew and sparks started dancing on my limbs. The disgusting smell of burning flesh and blood was suffocating.

She traded her blood and soul to bring me together to die.

"Ahhh!"

Every second feels like an eternity of torment, tearing my very being and grounding it to dust.

Is this how I'm going to die? So...ugly?

──※ ·❆· ※───

Salmonath (Sol-Monath):
The Anglo-Saxon name for February which roughly means 'the month of cakes'.

Yup, I'm back