Chapter Six: Dane

I thought of her, Miss Adara Huntington, as I watched the sun set over the ocean.

I could almost see her form in my mind.

I could visualize her stepping barefooted across the wet sand, walking along the beach and away from me.

Walking out of my life?

Perhaps.

We were from different worlds.

We didn’t move in the same social circles. Actually, I didn’t move in any social circles.

I kept to myself, except for a few close friends—like Edin my boyhood companion, and his sister, and a few family members on the mainland.

Edin had long been a mainlander. But now, he’d bought a home on Vukasin.

Seaview, the estate next door to mine. I was thrilled.

True, he was human, not Lupine. But we were the best of friends. I could trust him. He and his sister were both devoted to me.

This was only natural because long ago, I saved him on the night of the wolf attack.

That was before Vukasin became an island internment camp—a "sanctuary," the mainlanders called it, not wanting to acknowledge what it really was.

Before Vukasin, werewolves ran rampant seven nights each month, through the streets, the countryside, and the forests of every nation on the planet.

Eurasia and North America had their grey werewolves—dominant on Vukasin now. Australia had weredingos. The colder climates had Arctic werewolves, rare and beautiful, like my lost Bianca with her snowy fur. Eastern Africa had golden werejackals. the African plains had Serengeti werewolves. The forests of Canada and parts of the northern U.S. were home to timber werewolves, and the southwestern U.S. was, in those days, infested with werecoyotes.

As the menace increased, diverse found one thing they could agree on: the problem had to be dealt with.

But because they—we—were human three weeks of each month, and because many of us had un-turned friends and families who loved us, an outcry arose against the proposed solution of exterminating were-creatures.

And so Vukasin Island became our “sanctuary,”  where we were interned, imprisoned, confined . . . forever.

With no exceptions.

Vukasin was a pleasant island, with a mild climate. Soon the authorities set up houses in a medium-sized town with hotels, restaurants, and shops. Plus hotels and tourist cottages for non-Lupine visitors. And a few large estates for Lupines of means, such as myself.

Every werecreature could choose between perpetual banishment to Vukasin, or death by a firing squad with silver bullets.

It was not a tough choice.

But I’m digressing. I was speaking about the night before the wolf attack, the night that I saved my friend Edin.

We were in college, then. It was our sophomore year. We met in chemistry class and found we had a lot in common—including our mutual hatred of the strict and unreasonable Mrs. Chase, our chem professor.

We were from similar upper-class backgrounds, shared an interest in poetry, art, antiquities, and literature. And we’d both lost our mothers in childhood. Soon we were best friends. So sophomore year, we chose to be dorm mates.

If I keep digressing, it’s because it’s so painful to recall the events of that dreadful evening.

The night that changed my life forever.

Edin and I went to a party. I consumed a fair amount of vodka. Edin had some, too, but he was not as reckless as I was. He was naturally outgoing. For me, drinking helped overcome my introversion.

Which was essential to meeting girls.

I laugh inwardly and bitterly as I think of myself then: eager to couple with any woman who’d have me, so unlike the selective and hard-to-please man I am today.

I love sex, of course. But I favor one-night stands. I can’t stand the name dropping and materialism among the eligible females of my class. It’s almost unbearable.

Not with Bianca, of course, but her beauty worked on me like a potion. She could do anything in my presence without being rejected. I was devastated that she was now gone from me forever . . . .

Back to the events of the night in question:

Edin and I had just hooked up with two lovelies, girls who attended our school. After a few drinks we learned they were seniors—older women, ha!—and shared an off-campus apartment.

It was a warm evening, and after Edin and I exchanged glances over their shoulders, he suggested we all go outside for some fresh air.

And to look at the moon. . . .

The full moon.

The house where the party was held had a large back garden. We were standing in a clump of trees caressing and kissing the girls when I heard a commotion nearby in the bushes at my back.

I looked behind me, and when I turned back around, I saw that the girl I’d been kissing moments before had been replaced by a wolflike creature rearing up on its hind legs.

The girl herself was on the ground, eviscerated by another wolf on all fours. The front of her dress was scarlet with gore. Her eyes stared blankly up at the full moon.

“Edin, run,” I cried, as the wolf on the ground made a move in his direction. I grabbed the creature by the scruff of the neck and punched him in the face, going for the eyes.

Edin ran, and he escaped. He sought shelter inside the house where the party was going on and warned everyone. They barricaded the doors, arming themselves with knives, fireplace pokers, anything they could find.

Meanwhile, the wolf had shaken free of my grasp. It attacked, and I fought for my life as it dragged me deeper into the undergrowth. Its companion took over eating the flesh of the girl on the ground.

The wolf attacking me snarled and spit and growled. At one point I got my hands around its throat. But not before I was bitten and scratched on my arms, my neck, and my face. I squeezed its neck, cutting off its air until it blacked out. I staggered away, back to find Edin.

I had survived.

But I would turn Lupine with the next full moon.

Edin was a true friend. Grateful that I’d saved him, he was invaluable in helping me through the transformation, and helping me hide it from the authorities.

But soon they found out.

This was just as Vukasin Island was being established. My father was devastated as what had occurred, and he bought the estate for me. I rode one of the first ships, was one of the earliest of the  inmates. . . .

Now, sitting by the bay window in my dining room, I pushed these dismal thoughts from my mind.

I poured a glass of sherry to drown my pain.

I forced my thoughts to return to Adara Huntington, to the view of her from behind, the enticing sway of her hips as she walked across the sand.

I thought of her and only of her as the sun set over the ocean. Staring through the glass I pictured her.

Walking away from me?

Perhaps forever?

No, I said to myself str. No. Not forever.

I didn't understand how she'd cast such a spell over me. How I'd become so obsessed with her so quickly.

But the only thought in my mind was this:

I WILL see her again.