The Storm

The sky over the Rust Belt turned dark, really fast. The air grew extremely heavy. By 4:00 PM, the streetlights, the few that actually worked in this neighborhood, flickered to life, casting long shadows across the garage floor.

Vane and Jax had been on edge all day. They didn't speak. They moved in an organized routine of securing heavy equipment and checking the thick iron bolts on the bay doors, like they have done this a thousand times before. The silver SUV was still parked a block away.

"Miller," Vane yelled, standing at the foot of the office stairs.

"Shift is over. Pack your bags and go. Don't stop for gas, don't look back. Just get to your apartment and stay there."

"The audit isn't done, Vane," I replied, my voice steadier than I felt.

"And Cane hasn't told me to leave."

"Cane isn't in a position to tell you anything right now," Vane snapped.

"Get out!"

I didn't move. I couldn't. The pull of the garage, the mystery behind that red door, was stronger than my fear.

By 7:00 PM, I was the only one left in the main area. The shop was a tomb of silent machinery. Then, the sky finally broke.

A massive crack of lightning ripped through the air, hitting a transformer nearby. The industrial fans groaned to a stop. My computer screen flickered once, twice, and then died, plunging the office into darkness. I couldn't see a dam thing.

The thunder was so loud that the glass walls of my office vibrated. I fumbled for my phone and switched on the flashlight. The narrow beam of light cuts through the dark and reflects off the oily floors below. I started down the stairs, intent on reaching the Corolla and ending this night, but then I heard it.

A noise, a rhythmical thud. A heavy slamming is coming from behind the red door.

It wasn't a mechanical sound. It was the sound of something alive hitting metal. I crept toward the back, my heart pounding against my ribs.

"Cane?" I whispered.

"Vane? Is someone hurt?"

I reached the red door. It wasn't bolted. In their hurry to prepare for the storm, they had left the middle deadbolt disengaged. The door was ajar by an inch, a light from the high skylights in the bay cutting through the gap.

I should have turned around. I should have run to the "Shadow" in the SUV. But I pushed the door open.

The rear bay is full of shadows. In the center of the concrete floor, highlighted by the light of the moon through the storm clouds, was Cane.

He was stripped to the waist, his back arched in a way that looked physically impossible. His muscles were moving under his skin like there were living things trying to claw their way out. He let out a moan, a sound of such agonizing pain that it brought tears to my eyes.

"Cane!" I ran forward.

"Oh my god, let me help you—"

"Get... out..." he gasped. His voice was barely recognizable.

He spun around, and I fell back, my flashlight rolling across the floor. In the light of the phone, I saw it. I saw the truth.

Cane’s jaw was stretched until it looked like it would tear. His teeth were growing, sharpening into spikes. His fingers were curling into claws. But it was his eyes that froze the blood in my veins. They were burning amber, glowing with a light that came from within.

I watched, paralyzed, as his spine began to pop. Snap. Crack. Snap. Thick black fur was growing from his entire body.

"You're... you're a wolf," I whispered, the words feeling ridiculous even as the evidence stood six feet in front of me.

He stood up, now taller. He wasn't the man who had kissed me in the breakroom. He was a creature of myth, a nightmare. Something you only read about in fiction stories.

He lunged toward me, his claws skidding across the concrete with a sound like knives on stone. I scrambled back, my heels catching on a chain, and I fell.

He stopped inches from me. He tilted his head, his nostrils flaring as he took in the scent of my terror. A low growl started in his throat, his ears pinned back.

"Cane, please," I choked, reaching up with a trembling hand.

"It’s me. It’s Eloise."

His eyes flickered. For a split second, the beast receded, and the man looked out from the depths of his amber eyes. He turned and slammed his massive fist into the brick wall, the impact cracking the whole structure.

"Run!" Vane’s voice came from the darkness.

He appeared from the far corner, already halfway through his own horrific change, his face distorted and his eyes glowing a striking gold.

"Eloise, go! He can't hold it back with you here! Your scent is driving him mad!"

I didn't wait for a second warning. I scrambled to my feet, grabbed my phone, and ran through the red door. I slammed it shut and threw all three bolts, my hands slippery from sweat and grease. On the other side, a weight hit the metal so hard the door buckled in its frame.

I ran through the darkened shop, out into the frantic wind and rain. I dove into the Corolla, my breath coming in sobs. I looked at the garage, the metal shaking with the force of the howling coming from within.

I looked at the silver SUV a block away. The "Shadow" was stepping out, a flashlight in one hand and a weapon in the other, sensing the chaos.

I had been waiting for my life to start. I had been waiting to feel something real.

As I put the car in gear and sped away into the storm, I realized my father was wrong. I wasn't in danger of losing my life. I was in danger of losing my soul to a man who wasn't a man at all. And the most terrifying part?

I wanted to go back.