Where the Werewolves Are V 1
Lee gradually began to regain his senses and woke into a world of a skull splitting headache. His mind felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and he found it hard to think. The last thing he remembered was running headlong through forest but from what he couldn't recall immediately.
Then, the reason for Lee's headlong flight into the forest suddenly hove into his memory. His stepfather had caught him kissing his friend Hank and exploded at them. He ranted and raved about evil and sin before grabbing a piece of firewood and chasing the young men around with it. The pair managed to evade the old sot and made it out the door. Hank turned a sharp right while Lee had opted for the forest with the bellowing of his half-drunk stepfathers insane rantings faded into the distance behind him. He remembered bolting along then the lights went out.
As he glanced around, he found was in the unfamiliar surroundings of uniquely appointed cottage. Then his eyes roamed across a large man sitting in a homemade chair. He had a black mane of curled hair and a great black beard. Dark eyes set under a deep brow defined his face. A huge wolf pelt sat astride his shoulders and kept his cape while well appointed clothing adorned his body.
"Ah, good," he smiled. "You're awake." He rumbled in a deep bass voice. "You were starting to worry me."
Lee startled slightly. He had not expected anything like this or the hospitality he was receiving. "Where am I? Who are you?" he asked. The questions formed in rapid fire succession in his mind faster than he could ask them.
"Slow down," the man smiled. "First of all, I'm Rex. Can you give me your name?"
"Lee," he replied feebly after a short mind search.
Well, Lee, you need your rest. That was quite a bash on the head you took back there in the woods."
"Did you hit me?" asked Lee, suddenly a little more fearful.
"Heavens no!" recoiled Rex. "You tripped over a root and adroitly bounced your head off a rock. Knocked you clean out. I couldn't just leave you there, so I brought you here to my cottage in Wolf's Glen to convalesce."
"How long have I been here?" Lee asked as he racked his already strained memory trying to remember a town called Wolf's Glen, to no avail. "I don't recall seeing that name on the map," mentioned Lee.
"You've been here two days and you won't find Wolf's Glen on a human map. It's a werewolf village," Rex finished.
"Werewolf?" asked Lee now snapping to attention and then falling right back down to the pillow, unable to rise yet. His head throbbed. For the first time he touched the bandages that had been so expertly applied.
"Easy, easy, we're not going to eat you! No matter what you may have heard!" Rex asserted while remaining seated and unmoving while trying his best to look small.
"But don't you..." his voice trailed off.
"Look," began Rex sincerely, "ever since humankind found out about our kind thousands of years ago, they have been terrified of us. They make up stories to scare children and whip up propaganda. We really just want to live in peace."
"What about the stories of werewolves attacking people on the road?" asked Lee. His eyes drifted down to the incredible bulge in Rex' pants. "That fabric is hiding a monster!" he thought as his mind drifted.
"How would you respond if someone threatened to kill you, chased you down, cornered you and poked sharp sticks at you?" replied Rex. "That's the part they leave out of the human story."
"Hmmm," contemplated Lee. "That does make sense. But, what about one who is said to have attacked that farm all those years ago?"
"He was a different story. Gyr really wasn't a bad individual; he just caught a rare strain of Werewolf Distemper. This makes us quite sick as the other strains of this illness affect dogs. In the throes of this illness, we can do incredibly irrational things." Rex explained. "We did manage to catch up with and subdue him. Apparently, he attacked the farm thinking that he was defending Wolf Gen.
"Do you know what happened to him after that? Our chronicles didn't record that. All we know is that we haven't seen him again."
Rex now gave Lee the rest of the story. "We tracked him down and captured him at the farm, but he escaped from us and ran. So, we hunted him down as a threat to the survival of both human and werewolf communities. In the end he fell off a high cliff and into the Deepwater River, and that's the last we've seen of him. Chances are the illness has ended him by now. It kills about eighty-five percent of it's victims within a week. The other fifteen percent wind up suffering some sort of neurological damage ranging from very light, maybe a tic, to horrendously crippling," responded Rex calmly as he reached for his more tobacco, stuffed the bowl and lit the mass. The smoke curled up around his head as he bade Lee, "Now, you should get some rest while get some dinner together for us. Lee relaxed and lapsed back into sleep again dreaming of the bulge in the front of his new friend Rex's pants.
The next thing Lee knew, Rex had his huge hand on his arm, gently rousing him from his slumber. Lee looked up to see him sitting on a chair beside him with a plate of steaming meat cut into bite sized pieces sitting in his lap. "You have to eat to regain your strength." He proceeded to stab the meat with the available fork and tuck it into Lee's mouth. It was delicious. Never in his life could he remember being so hungry and he ate heartily. "What is it?" Lee asked between bites.
Rex smiled as Lee finished off the final morsel. "Venison al la Rex," he smiled.
After the delicious food he had eaten, Lee felt strong enough to sit up in the comfy bed he was ensconced in. He smoothed the blankets and looked up at his benefactor. "Thank you," he said simply as he smiled.
"I know you have a lot more questions, Lee. It's all right to ask them and I'll answer them for you," vowed Rex as he sat back in his chair and reached for his pipe again.
The million questions boiling inside Lee suddenly bubbled to the surface again. "Do silver weapons hurt you more than steel weapons?" he blurted. "What a stupid question!" he admonished himself in thought.
"If we get any kind of metal shoved into us, well, it's gonna leave a mark," countered Rex. "Actually, silver, being such a soft metal, is not a good base to make weapons out of," he mused.
"Good point," agreed Lee. "What about wolfsbane?" he asked after a moments reflection. "Does that make a werewolf sick?" asked Lee.
"That'll make anybody sick," replied Rex. "It's a universal poison."
"Does garlic have any effect on you?" queried Lee.
"That's the stuff of vampire legend," responded Rex. "Another product of the ever-fervent human imagination. I'll tell you right now, vampires are pure fantasy and don't exist. I actually like some garlic buds stuffed into a nice pork roast."
"What does holy water do to you?" asked Lee, remembering some of Father Crispin's lessons.
"It makes us wet," chuckled Rex. "Humans sure have a lot of crazy stories."
"Do you change people against their will by biting or scratching them like the legends say?"
"More propaganda. I have not changed anyone who did not want to be in my life. The transformation cannot come about because of a mere scratch, no matter how deep. Bodily fluid transfer is what effects the change. Saliva is a weak carrier, blood to blood contact is better, but still takes a while. Semen is the best carrier and acts fastest." finished Rex as he studied Lee.
Little by little, the veil was pulled back on the truth as, one by one, Lee's illusions about these legendary creatures were dispelled by this patient man.
Are you only active at night? Does sunlight burn you?" asked Lee.
"More crazy stories," Rex chuckled. "No, sunlight doesn't burn us any more than regular humans. The thicker fur helps," he finished and as he winked at Lee.
"Do you only change at the full moon, or can you transform on purpose?"
"The lunar cycle has nothing to do with the change. However, we do schedule a lot of our festivals to coincide with the full moon. Once fully trained, a werewolf can transform at will, during the day or at night."
"I wonder where that legend came from, then?" wondered Lee aloud as he became more and more curious about this culture and the change.
"Some human probably saw us during the Running of the Moon and made up some more tall tales."
"Running of the Moon?" echoed Lee.
"It's one of our festival activities," responded Rex.
"Can you control wolves?"
"I don't know, can you control wolves? Our powers don't extend to controlling them or any other woodland creature. More garbage made up by humans. For the most part, we're friendly with wolves and they may travel with us, but that's their choice. Now, I think that's enough questions for tonight. You need to rest. In a day or so, we'll see if you're strong enough to go out and can see more of our world for yourself."
Lee had always felt that he had never really fit into the organization of his stepfather or indeed, the entire human world. He had always had the feeling that there was something that stood him apart and now here it was. The more he thought about it the more he longed to become a lycanthrope. "Rex?" asked Lee a little timidly.