Something Wicked This Way Comes Ch5

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***

It was early morning when Jack woke Koz, the first pale fingers of dawn reaching over the horizon. The older man looked up at the fading darkness overhead. He felt for the prickle at his neck signifying the wolf waiting to appear, but his neck hardly even itched. The moon’s influence was weakened, almost gone entirely.

The wolves had already disappeared; most likely realizing the danger of being caught in the open while transforming.

The two ate a quick, silent breakfast of stale, water-soaked jerky. It was not the most palatable of breakfasts, but Koz figured after having a brief soak in lake water, it was probably best to eat it before it became completely inedible. After checking over the remaining supplies, Koz gave a silent prayer of thanks to whoever invented waterproof plastic packaging. Except the jerky, all their supplies were un-opened and undamaged.

Koz ferried Jack from the island to the shore, holding him to his chest as he backstroked to the bank. He kept his senses peeled for any signs of the remaining pack members, but there was nothing.

Koz and Jack moved quickly through the trees. In the quiet of the early morning, they sounded like a train running through the forest. Underbrush damp with morning dew clung to their legs, coating their calves in broken leaves and grass, while birds cried their alarm at the sight of them and scattered noisily as they passed.

Koz wished they could move a little more quietly, but he’d chosen to sacrifice stealth for speed. If the wolves were smart, they’d be hiding, waiting for the change so they could give chase with guns. Koz kept his own weapon in hand, just in case.

The sky overhead slowly turned from pale purple to pink. The light tingle which had lingered on Koz’s neck faded and gradually he slowed his and Jack’s run to a jog, then a walk.

The trees became sparser the further they went. Koz’s spirits begin to lift. They broke through a line of trees and found a clearing occupied by two picnic tables.

“Civilization!” Jack moaned happily and Koz smiled.

“Almost,” he said, “we’ll reach Claussen by lunch time.” They started walking along the trail near the picnic tables. It really did feel like they’d reached civilization.

“Oh God,” Jack said. “We can eat people food! I may just eat a whole broccoli stalk, I’m so done with junk food.”

“I agree, although I’d want a little more than broccoli. Maybe some baked carrots.” Koz’s mouth watered at the thought.

“Mashed potatoes,” Jack said reverently.

“Smoked salmon,” Koz countered.

“Garlic bread!”

“Cheesy, garlic bread.”

“Holy shit,” Jack groaned. “Let’s go to Red Lobster.”

Koz laughed. “Sounds perfect. I’ll pay.”

Jack gasped delightedly. “That does sound perfect!”

Koz laughed again. Jack was smiling and it was so bright and infectious and such a relief, Koz felt lighter than he had in months.

CRACK!

The sound echoed like thunder through the forest. A chunk of wood shattered off the tree just a half-foot in front of Jack.

Without a thought, Koz grabbed the back of the boy’s hoodie and pulled him off the trail and into the brush, taking cover behind a tree, pushing Jack between him and the trunk. He peeped his head around the trunk – where had the shot come from?

He spotted motion to his right and turned to see a blonde head disappear behind a tree. The girl from the truck. How had she gotten ahead of them?

“Not that way, then.” Koz took Jack’s hand and lead him deeper into the brush, heading northward still, but in a more roundabout fashion, so as to avoid the trail and the more open camping grounds. Koz kept his eyes peeled and scented the air as they ran from trunk to trunk – he’d seen the blonde, but where was Jamie?

A blur of motion was his only warning. Jamie was right in front of them!

Koz grabbed Jack and shoved him to the side as the shot hit a tree behind him. He swerved back towards Jack, dragging him to his feet and hauling him deeper into the forest. The nearest cover was a thick-trunked oak, twice as wide as he was. Koz flattened himself and Jack against the bark and looked around wildly.

Jamie had been just ahead of them before, now he was darting from tree to tree – repositioning. He held his shotgun in hand as he moved – completely nude but for a layer of mud slopped all over his body.

Of course, if the werewolves had no shame they could just grab their guns in their mouths and place themselves strategically so they could cut off their prey as soon as they transformed back to humans. They’d been so relatively non-strategic in their movements thus far; Koz hadn’t thought they would do such a thing. But, with only half the pack left, they would need to alter their methods wouldn’t they?

“Damn,” he cursed. He spotted the blonde darting around to flank them. “They’re trying to surround us.”

“So what do we do? Fight them off?”

“Considering I only have three bullets left, I don’t think that would be advisable.”

“Why does your gun only carry five bullets?”

“Six. Because it’s an antique revolver and I wasn’t planning on using it in a hunt. Ever.”

“Great,” Jack pressed his forehead into the bark. “Unless my eyes were deceiving me, they are both naked. How many bullets can they have on them?”

“They’re using double-barrel shotguns and they’ve already fired twice, so at least two more.” One for Koz and one for Jack.

“Doesn’t that mean we have the advantage?”

Koz shook his head. “Not with one gunman. Even if I lined up a shot and hit one, we’d be vulnerable to attack from the other.”

“So what?” Jack spluttered. “We’re running?”

“Keep low, run from tree to tree. I’ll go first. You stick to me, alright?”

Jack swallowed. “Okay.” The scent of his fear met Koz’s strained senses and he forced himself to ignore it.

Koz bolted, heading deeper into the forest, Jack hard on his heels. Koz glanced behind them once and saw the two hunters moving – Jamie heading towards them, the other moving perpendicular, blocking off the northern path. He’d have to get rid of her first.

Koz whirled around a tree and stopped. Jack nearly collided into him in his hurry to follow. Koz turned round and pointed his weapon at the blonde girl, who was too focused on running to notice she was in danger.

“Sophie!” Jamie cried.

The girl – Sophie – threw herself to the ground without even glancing Koz’s way.

CRACK!

Koz ducked back around the tree just before Jamie fired his gun. “And now they have one shot left between them,” he told Jack.

“Shit, Soph!” Jamie cried.

“Go back to the car!” Sophie said.

There was a rustling in the underbrush as Jamie took off. Koz turned to watch him go, but there was no clear shot and even if he had more ammunition than Sophie at the moment – he couldn’t afford to waste it.

The forest fell silent as the sounds of Jamie’s retreat faded. There was a breathlessness in the air, a tenseness enhanced by the fact that all the usual birds had cleared the area when the first shot was fired.

Jack felt the tension just as much as Koz. He spoke in a whisper. “Where is the other one?”

“I don’t see her,” Koz said, keeping his voice low. “She didn’t leave with Jamie, though.” She was all alone with only one bullet to help her. She was going to have to be cautious And so would they. Such a vulnerable position, so close to failure – to death - Sophie would also be desperate; Koz couldn’t let his guard down now.

“Follow me,” Koz said.

“That’s the plan,” Jack replied.

Koz hurried from one tree to another, Jack hard on his heels. He paused and checked their surroundings at each stop, feeling a little like a rodent hiding from a hawk. He saw no sign of the she-wolf. It was worrying. He was sure he hadn’t seen Sophie leave with Jamie. He kept his senses strained for any hint of her.

There was no scent on the wind. That meant she was downwind, somewhere behind them. Which was only slightly better than being in front of them. At least this way, she couldn’t block them off.

They kept moving, Koz tense from the continual stretching of his senses as he tried to detect the she-wolf. After the third time Jack walked into him when he stopped for cover, he thought he might scream – until Jack suddenly dropped down on one knee.

“Sorry,” Jack said, “gotta tie my shoe.”

Koz was feeling ridiculously strained and almost stupid enough at the moment to comment that Jack wasn’t wearing shoes when he saw Jack giving him a pointed look and gesturing behind his arm with a tilt of his head and a pointed look.

As discretely as he could manage, Koz glanced the way Jack was pointing and saw, between the leaves, a hint of gold.

Slowly Koz knelt down beside his companion.

From this angle, Koz could see clearly a few patches of skin showing through the leaves – even the shadow of a hand.

“Let’s have a rest actually.” Koz spoke just loud enough that he could be heard, but not so loud as to be suspicious.

He couldn’t see the girl’s face amongst the branches, which meant she likely didn’t have a good visual and was tracking them more on scent and sound. Moving quietly, he slipped off his shoes and jacket. The jacket he draped over a nearby bush, the shoes he set by Jack. He leaned in to whisper against Jack’s ear. “I’m going to circle around her, wait a moment after I’m gone, then I want you to put this tree between you and her, all right?”

“Okay.” Jack’s face was whiter than usual, but there was a determined set to his jaw that reassured Koz despite the scent of fear in the air.

Leaving his affects behind, Koz began to creep towards their would-be attacker. He circled wide to the left, until he could barely see the white of Jack’s hair through the brambles. He tried to move out of the wind, hoping his jacket would be enough of a scent marker to fool the girl.

He stepped carefully, testing the ground with his socked feet, searching for the quietest approach. He froze as he spotted movement.

Sophie was crawling along the ground, her thin body covered in mud and leaves with twigs caught in her long, blonde hair; every inch of her looked feral and dangerous, a beast in human skin.

She hadn’t seen Koz, but instead was eyeing where his jacket was, her nose crinkling as she scented the breeze. She began to creep around to the right, away from him, circling to where she thought her targets were. Koz saw that even moving on all fours, she still clutched her gun in her hand, the barrel smeared with mud to hide the shine of metal.

Koz remained frozen until she had moved behind a tree for cover, then he started making his way towards her, copying her idea and carrying his gun in his hand as he crouched through the shrubs, sometimes mimicking her and moving on all fours. He stuck to the shadows so the glare off his weapon couldn’t give him away.

He was almost upon her hiding place when he glanced up and saw the double barrel of Sophie’s shotgun – pointed towards Jack’s hiding place.

Before Koz could move, Sophie fired. Jack yelped.

Koz was half-standing, Jack’s name on his lips, before he realized his mistake. He turned just in time to see the she-wolf racing towards him, twirling her weapon like an expert guardsman, before the butt of the gun collided with the side of his head and sent him to the ground.

“Koz!” Jack’s voice rang through his skull.

He pushed himself up – or tried to – he saw patches of dirt, of sky, trees, and leaves, and pieces of faces and bodies flashing and disappearing like the Cheshire cat. Sounds flitted in and out nonsensically.

He didn’t think there were any words – if there were, he couldn’t understand them. He only heard short cries and struggled breathing.

Finally he blinked and the haze cleared up enough for him to see Sophie’s gun abandoned next to him. The girl herself was busy, tussling with Jack in the underbrush.

There was a patch of angry red scrapes on Sophie’s side and the left side of Jack’s head was caked in dirt. Sophie had Jack in a strangle hold – which would’ve worked better if he hadn’t squeezed an arm through her grip, stopping her from gripping his neck properly. For a delirious moment, Koz saw them as they were: two scrawny children who didn’t know what they were doing. Then he remembered one of them was trying to kill the other.

He came up behind Sophie, gun in hand, and in one move grabbed her by the hair and pressed the muzzle of the gun to her temple. Instantly, she froze.

“Let go,” Koz ordered.

She obeyed and Jack flopped to the ground. Hurriedly, he pulled himself to his feet, whirling around and staring at the two of them.

Koz saw his eyes go to Sophie’s face. ‘Don’t ever look them in the eye before you kill them.’ Koz remembered Astor’s words. ‘You’ll hesitate – and when you hesitate, all manner of things can go wrong.’

So Koz wouldn’t hesitate.

“Look away, Jack,” Koz ordered.

Sophie let out a whimper and Koz’s eyes fell on her. That was a mistake. He met her eyes and they were a brilliant green. Like Seraphina’s. And so, Koz did what he was absolutely not supposed to do: he hesitated.

CRACK!

Pain exploded through Koz’s arm. His gun fell to the ground as the muscles in his hand went limp. Koz grit his teeth, scooped the gun up in his good arm and ran for cover after Jack while Sophie scrambled the opposite direction.

Koz looked behind them and saw Jamie – now clothed – standing behind a tree with a gun in his hand. Luckily for Koz and Jack, he was more focused on covering his companion’s retreat than firing on them.

Koz ran, trying to support his injured arm as he led Jack away. They moved southward the pack were far behind and they reached a slow-moving stream. They walked through the water, Koz slipping over wet stones in his socked feet as the adrenaline wore off and agony sunk its teeth in. Still, he pushed himself onward until they reached a stony outcrop on the opposite bank, just large enough for them to duck under without getting too wet.

They could only rest a moment, Koz knew. Even with the water washing away their scent, with Koz’s blood-trail mysteriously ending at the creek, he doubted the two wolves would have much trouble tracking them.

“Oh,” Jack moaned. “You’re bleeding…” He stared at the wound in shock.

Koz grit his teeth and glanced down at the wound before looking up at Jack’s pale face. It hurt intensely, but he would heal. “Are you alright?” Koz asked.

“You just got shot!” Jack ran his hands through his hair, eyes wide and face pale as he watched the blood spreading, soaking the sleeve of Koz’s t-shirt and smearing across his good hand where he was half-heartedly trying to put pressure on the wound. Blood trickled down his arm and dripped into the water.

Koz looked down at the wound again, mostly to appease his companion. Koz had been unfortunate enough to break bones before and judging by the excruciating pain, the shot gun pellets had shattered the bone in his upper arm. A few pellets were definitely still lodged in his flesh, he could feel them slowly being pushed out.

Luckily it wasn’t a silver bullet. Koz would much rather explain a wound that healed supernaturally fast than have a wound that wouldn’t heal quickly. Still, the smell of Jack’s fear was potent. Koz pressed a hand over the wound and grimaced. Ow.

“We can’t stay here, long,” he said, keeping his voice low. The pack could already be on their trail again and he didn’t want to give away their position by being noisy.

“Shouldn’t you not be moving?” Jack whispered furiously.

“I’ll definitely die if we let those two get close enough for a clear shot.”

Jack would not be mollified. “Don’t you need to like… tie it off?”

“Relax, Jack.” He’d recover from it soon enough. He offered Jack a wry smile. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

Jack opened his mouth to say something. Closed it again. Stared at him a moment. “There is a time and a place, Kozmotis!” He cried.

“Shh!” Koz tried to quiet him, feeling amused despite himself. “You’re right, sorry.” Koz wasn’t sorry at all; his little joke seemed to have turned Jack away from panic-mode. He shifted to look out from their hiding place and grit his teeth as the muscles in his arm tried to function around the pellets and torn flesh.

He wished he hadn’t left his jacket. It was worse he didn’t have his shoes, but at least if he’d had his jacket he could have used it as a sling.

“Um…” Jack said. “Could you use this like a sling?” He pulled at the front of his hoodie.

Koz raised his eyebrows, slightly amazed the boy knew about that trick. “Only if you don’t mind it getting covered in blood,” he said.

“No, you can save my life, but you can’t bleed on my things.” Jack rolled his eyes as he pulled the hoodie over his head. “The better question is:” Jack said as he helped Koz with his make-shift sling, “what are we going to do now that your shooting arm is busted?”

“I can shoot with my left,” Koz said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve ‘busted’ my right arm. We’ll be fine.” Or as fine as they’d been before – except they’d lost time and Koz’s shoes, jacket, blood, and bearings.

Once Jack’s hoodie was securely supporting Koz’s arm, the older man stood. “We’re going to move,” he said, “Ready?”

Jack offered him a weak smile and held his hands up helplessly, palms bloody from helping Koz with his sling. “Let the werewolf adventure continue,” he said ruefully.

*

Koz was right to assume the pack wouldn’t be gone for long. Shortly after they set out for Claussen again, Koz caught their scent on the wind. He looked back and sure enough spotted a skinny teenaged brunet darting along behind them, shotgun in hand.

They were in trouble, that was for sure. He started up a run and Jack hurried to keep pace, but he was limping slightly. Koz didn’t know how the younger man had managed to hurt himself, but it was looking like Koz wasn’t the only one being hampered by an injury. Sure, Koz could fire with his left hand, but the pain in his arm was incredibly distracting. The fight had already been two against one and now it was more like two against one half.

Koz scrambled to recall his mental map of the forest. The last thing he wanted to do was lead them off a cliff with no water to catch them. Before he could bring up his mental map, he and Jack tore through a line of trees and found themselves outside the safe cover and at the border of a large field, which rose up in a gentle hill before dipping down out of sight.

Koz’s mind whirled. Around or through? His decision was made for him when he spotted Sophie out of the corner of his eye, cutting them off to the side. Through it was.

He ran, Jack close on his heels. They had to move fast before the two wolves could catch up properly and take aim.

The tall grass clung to their legs as they tore across the field, heading up over the rise.

Once they got over the other side, Koz reasoned, he’d send Jack for cover and set up a shot to take out the wolves as they followed. No wait, they might go around! Scenarios flitted through his thoughts as he struggled to recall where the field ended. It was tricky – he’d memorized a topographic map – he could recognize any land feature but not the flora.

The two of them cleared the ridge and hurried down the other side before they could make too much a target of themselves. Still, Koz looked around to get his bearings.

“Koz!”

Koz looked around at Jack’s cry and saw Sophie dart around a tree at the edge of the field.

“Keep moving,” he ordered.

He kept an eye on the girl, ready to throw himself to the ground at a moment’s notice, but she didn’t raise her weapon, she only watched. As they reached the bottom, she darted forward to the next tree and stopped, not aiming, just watching.

Of course.

Koz turned northward and ran toward the girl. She raised her weapon.

He turned suddenly and took off southward. Jack cursed as he nearly slipped trying to keep up with the sudden change in direction. Koz glanced over his shoulder and saw that the she-wolf had lowered her weapon and was moving to flank them once more. Koz ran for the nearest tree line and dove for cover.

Once Jack had reached the safety of the trees as well, Koz looked out over the hill. Jamie came loping along over the ridge. Koz took aim and watched as Sophie raised her weapon again. She didn’t fire though, obviously making sure Koz wasn’t trying to lure her into wasting her ammunition. Koz lowered his gun, resolving to aim it at them without shooting more often. He might be able to catch them off guard by actually firing.

“They’re herding us.” Koz explained to his companion. “They’ll only fire if we go north or make a move against them.”

“Why don’t they just kill us outright?” Jack gasped, holding his side and leaning on his good leg. “Why all this running around?”

“I don’t know,” Koz said. “They’ve tried killing us outright and two of them are dead. We almost killed a third just a little while ago. Perhaps they’re hoping to wait us out, force us away from food and shelter until we’re too exhausted to be a threat. Slow hunting – it’s how cavemen used to take down mammoths.”

“Fascinating,” Jack said dryly. “So what do we do?”

“Well,” Koz sighed. “There’s lots of water around here, so assuming they don’t kill us when they turn tonight, we’ll probably starve to death.”

“Great, we’re back to my original plan.”

Koz bit his lip as he thought. Slow hunting was a passive aggressive move. It relied on the prey running more than fighting. He was confident he could beat the both of them if they didn’t have their weapons. If only Jack had a weapon they could stand on more equal ground. Ideas chased their way around Koz’s brain. It didn’t help his thought process when his concentration was eclipsed by the itching, aching, agony in his arm as shards of bone slowly fused back together.

It was not pleasant, but his arm would be functioning again in an hour. Sometimes it was good to be a werewolf.

Oh. An idea sprang to mind. A very, very stupid idea. No. He wasn’t going to do that. Never. He’d sworn he would never willingly resort to that—

“Koz?” Jack’s voice broke through his thoughts.

Koz looked down at his companion and followed his gaze.

Jamie was standing just at the foot of the hill, completely in the open, his rifle half-cocked, just standing and watching from a distance.

Looking the other way, Koz saw Sophie standing an equal distance away at a different angle. She was dressed now, wearing a camouflage jacket over jeans and combat boots. Her hair was still covered in leaves and twigs and hung down in her face. Koz could still see her green eyes though. She was glaring daggers at him.

“What do we do, Koz?” Jack asked.

Koz sighed. “This way,” he said. It looked like he was going to have to do something very stupid after all.

*

They didn’t stop all day, partly to recover lost time and partly to make the wolves suffer. If they hadn’t eaten since their last transformation, they were probably near fainting with hunger by now.

As it was, the two were far behind when evening fell. Koz couldn’t even smell them on the breeze by the time they arrived at their destination.

Koz walked into the ring of trees and leaned against one of the trunks with an exhausted groan. He gingerly lifted his foot to see the shredded underside of his socks while Jack looked around himself.

It took Jack a moment to realize where they were. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” He moaned. “The druid circle?” He flipped the strap Koz’s pack off his shoulder and the bag fell to the ground with a thud. “How did we even get back here again?”

Koz winced in sympathy as he slipped off what remained of his socks. “We’ve done a lot of looping back around I’m afraid. Aaron’s camp and the island pushed us westward…” He trailed off as Jack ran his hands through his hair with a frustrated sigh.

“So you weren’t joking about starving to death, huh?” He asked. “That’s the end game?”

Koz resisted the urge to remind Jack that they could always shoot each other first. “I plan on doing away with our attackers tonight if at all possible,” he said. “We may lose a few more pounds, but won’t starve. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

“How are you going to fight them?” Jack asked nervously, chewing his lip.

“Put my back to the circle. When they come at me in their wolf forms, I’ll open fire.”

“So simple. Nothing could go wrong!” Jack said, an edge of hysteria in his tone. “What about your arm?”

“What about it?” Koz’s arm had stopped hurting so long ago he’d almost forgotten he’d been wounded. He flexed his hand inside the sling. Everything felt fine – except for the sticky shotgun pellets that had been pushed out of his arm – which were now rolling around inside the sling.

Jack looked at him like he was crazy, then abruptly pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. “I shouldn’t even be surprised by the things you say,” he said. “Okay – what happens if they don’t come at us in their wolf forms? They still can’t enter the circle, but can they shoot through the non-violent druid barrier?”

“Yes.”

Jack raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Really Jack, we don’t have a lot of options, it was the circle or the island and it would be considerably easier to trap us on the island where we can’t fight back.” Not to mention eventually the full moon would rise and Koz didn’t want Jack trapped with him when that happened.

The full moon! A flash of panic shot through him. When was the full moon? His mind raced as he struggled to do a mental count on how many days he had left before he wouldn’t be able to control the change.

Three. His stomach turned with dread. Three days until he couldn’t control himself at night. Maybe two – he was more likely to lose control when he was stressed.

Three nights left until he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from trying to hurt Jack. What if they couldn’t get to Claussen in time? Scenarios began to play out in Koz’s head. He could swim Jack to the island and leave him with the gun. He’d never swam in his lupine form, Jack would surely be safe – but what if he wasn’t? What if Koz tried to swim out to him and Jack had to shoot him? Then Jack would be trapped on the island. That left the cabin and the druid circle.

The circle was their best bet. If they couldn’t reach Claussen in two days, they could make their way back to the circle. If they hurried. The cabin was out of the question, unless they started for the cabin tomorrow – but either way, Jack would have to be safely tucked away and Koz would be loose. He might stay near Jack in his lupine form, simply because he was a human that was nearby – but what if he didn’t? What if he made for the campgrounds? No, he needed to be contained on the full moon. Claussen was their safest option. Almost their only option.

To reach Claussen though, they’d first have to get rid of their two followers. If the situation hadn’t seemed urgent before, it was even more so now. Koz needed to kill Jamie and Sophie.

“Yoohoo? Koz?”

Koz snapped himself out of his thoughts to see Jack looking up at him in concern. It was an effort to force himself into the present when he was so very anxious about the future, but now wasn’t the time. Jack needed him. “Sorry,” he said. “Let’s have a quick bite before our friends catch up, hm? We’ll get a fire going and I can cook up some of the hot dogs.”

Jack seemed conflicted, but ultimately gave in with a small smile. “You’re a man after my own heart, Koz.”

Jack cleared away a patch of dirt and gathered dry leaves while Koz left the circle to gather wood, keeping his senses alert to any sign of their two stalkers. As he gathered stray branches, the sling became more obviously unnecessary and even downright unhelpful. Finally, Koz removed it and slung the ruined hoodie over his shoulder to free up his hands.

Jack had made a fairly decent pile of dry leaves and twigs by the time Koz came back. Koz set to work starting the fire, intently ignoring the open-mouthed stare Jack was giving him.

Finally, as Koz just got a bit of smoke going, the boy let out a strangled, almost frustrated sound. “What happened to your arm?” He asked, his voice a whole octave higher than usual.

Koz knelt and carefully blew on the tender ember he’d managed to produce. When he’d gotten the ember up to a respectable, albeit tiny flame, he spoke. “After dinner,” he said. “I’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, “Yeah, you do.” He spoke calmly, but his eyes told a different tale, they were questioning and astonished. Surprisingly, he didn’t smell of fear though.

After so long without eating, the hot dogs were heavenly. Koz was so pleased at the meal that he could almost ignore how Jack kept staring at him. It almost reminded him of Bunny, except Jack’s stares were more a confused need to reconfirm his strange recovery, while Bunny’s had always been from a wary certainty that Koz was going to suddenly transform and attack him.

Koz frowned. He supposed Jack was going to start looking at him that way too. He had to tell him – there was no sense lying about his rapid recovery when Jack might have to see him change in only a few short days. His stomach twisted. Maybe even a few short hours. God, how he hated this plan. Why did he come up with this plan?

He was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed Jack staring – not at him, but out into the brush.

“Did you hear something?” Koz’s hand went to his gun as he scented the air. Maybe the fire wasn’t such a good idea, he realized; the smoke was choking off his sense of smell.

“No,” Jack said. “I’m just antsy. It was… it was really creepy the way she crawled on the ground. She wasn’t even wearing anything either.”

“Some people find freedom in the bite,” Koz said, settling back down a little. “They feel like they are free from the expectations of human society. She obviously has gotten over the societal pressure to clothe oneself.”

“Man it was creepy though! Right? It was like…”

Koz almost smiled. “Please name a pop-culture reference.”

“The feral child in The Wolfman. The new one.”

Koz smirked. He knew what Jack was talking about. Sophie had looked human and yet utterly inhuman at the same time. It was a sight he’d gotten used to after hunting human-shaped monsters like vampires and wendigos, but Jack was completely new to the concept. The young man seemed genuinely distressed.

Koz didn’t like that, he realized, he much preferred when Jack was happy. “Oh?” He said, “I thought you meant The Wolfman with Lon Chaney. You know I saw that in theaters when it first came out?”

Jack was quiet a moment before he realized what Koz had said. “Really?” His eyebrows rose. “How old were you?”

Koz let out an incredulous laugh. “Zero, because I wasn’t born yet! I was being sarcastic. How old do you think I am?”

Jack put up his hands defensively. “I didn’t believe it entirely, I asked how old you would have been!”

“It came out in the thirties.”

“Forties!”

“That would still make me seventy years old.”

Jack ducked his head, lips quirked up in a weak smile. “I’m not good at math?”

“Apparently…” Koz couldn’t help the small smile that came to his lips. He’d managed to pull a smile from the boy at least.

“How old are you then?” Jack asked. “Unless you’re so old that that’s rude to ask.”

“I’m thirty-five… How old are you?” He sneered. “Unless you’re so young, you’re embarrassed to tell me.”

Jack gave him a shit-eating grin. “I’ll be twenty next month.” Koz must have made a face, because Jack grimaced. “I know, I know: ‘But aren’t you in high school?’”

Koz held up his hands. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“I was already old for my grade.” Jack shrugged. “Then I missed a lot of school and had to repeat ‘cause I busted my leg.”

Koz frowned. “I forgot you mentioned that before. You must have hurt it quite badly to miss so much class.”

“Yeah.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “I was in a bad car crash.”

Koz’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?” Koz had been mauled by a werewolf, but a serious car wreck somehow seemed more awful to him. ‘And if that isn’t a sign I’ve been doing this too long, I don’t know what is,’ he thought. “I’m sorry.”

Jack shrugged like it was nothing. “Not your fault. Anyway, I got laid up and missed school and watched a shit-ton of television so… yeah. Math skills are low. Pop-culture references are high.”

“Understood, I’ll try to tease less.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jack shrugged again. “Gives me an opportunity to tease you for not understanding them.”

“I haven’t even seen the new Wolfman movie,” Koz admitted.

Jack looked thoughtful. “I’d give it a five out of ten.”

Koz grimaced. “Maybe I won’t see it then.”

“No. There aren’t even any hotties in it. Watch Teen Wolf.”

“Oh yes,” Koz sighed in mockingly amorous tone. “Michael J. Fox is a babe.”

“Oh my God,” Jack laughed and the sound was too cheerful for their situation. It was infectious and Koz found himself smiling at the sound. He liked Jack, he realized. He wanted Jack to get out of here and be alright.

The fire crackled as the two fell silent. There was a moment of calm between them and then Jack took a deep breath and spoke. “I’m sorry if you don’t want to talk about it but it’s after dinner now and I’m really curious why you’re okay and not… y’know… fighting off gangrene.”

Koz let out a mirthless laugh. Where to start?

Luckily he was saved from an explanation as Jack jerked around suddenly. Koz followed his gaze and saw Jamie outside the circle, not quite at the edge.

Damn. Koz had really hoped they’d choose to change once night fell. Evidently they’d realized this didn’t always work in their favor. He and Jack would be sitting ducks now unless Koz could convince the two to change their minds and transform.

Jamie crouched down just behind a tree at the edge of the barrier, seemingly resolved to keep up the slow hunt and only ensure Jack and Koz didn’t escape. Good. He didn’t suspect Koz was planning an attack.

There was a sharp gasp from behind them and Koz whirled to see Sophie recoiling from the druid barrier, confusion and alarm on her face. Koz had tried to enter a druid circle when he wasn’t welcome several years ago. It felt much like pressing two oppositely charged magnets together, except you were one of the magnets.

Jamie stood up at the girl’s gasp of surprise and watched, baffled as she tried to put her hand through the barrier and found herself blocked. He looked suspiciously at the circle and then his face brightened.

“It’s a druid circle, Sophie,” he said in an almost excited tone of voice. “No one may enter if they intend violence to the ones inside.”

Sophie didn’t seem so impressed. “Can we shoot inside?”

“Um… I don’t know!” Jamie sounded inappropriately delighted to try. Sophie seemed ready to beat him to it. She raised her weapon and leveled it at Jack.

He held his hands up automatically, swallowing hard. “Let’s talk about this?” He asked nervously.

“Let’s not,” Sophie snorted. Koz bit the inside of his lip. The snide tone and the roll of her green eyes was painfully familiar to him – just like Seraphina.

“You don’t really want to shoot us, do you?” Jack pleaded.

Koz undid his belt as discretely as he could manage.

“You’d have shot us already if you wanted to kill us, right?” Jack smiled in a way that probably worked on most girls. Sophie evidently didn’t feel the same.

“Actually we just didn’t want to waste any bullets.”

Koz took off his shirt. There was no way to do this discretely, so of course all three teens looked at him as if… well, as if he’d responded to a life and death situation by randomly stripping.

Sophie and Jamie at least understood his intentions as they both suddenly trained their weapons on him. Jack just stared as Koz unzipped his fly.

“Uh… Koz?” He asked in a shaky voice. The scent of fear mingled with something else fizzled through Koz’s senses, but he ignored it.

“Don’t even try it!” Jamie said, trying and failing to make his youthful voice sound intimidating. “We’ll shoot you!”

“Unless those guns are loaded with silver bullets it won’t kill me, only piss me off.”

“We can shoot you in the head,” Sophie said. Although the fact she hadn’t yet tried this told Koz she believed him.

“It won’t work.” Koz had never tried it personally, but he’d heard of werewolves surviving headshots. Granted, the healing time to repair a brain was apparently quite long, but judging by the two wolves’ reactions, they didn’t know this.

“Really?” Again, Jamie seemed inappropriately delighted.

“Jamie!” Sophie growled and made an incredulous face at him. Jamie smiled apologetically.

Their victims largely ignored this exchange as Koz stripped down to nothing and Jack stared in horrified fascination.

“This is how I’m going to die,” he said.

“You’re not going to die,” Koz said, folding his pants and dropping them to the side.

“Yes, he is!” Sophie snarled, leveling her gun at Jack once more. “I can’t hurt you, but I can hurt him!”

“It would be wiser to run.” Koz stepped out of the circle and closed his eyes. Whether she shot Jack or not, their best chance for survival rested on this and Koz would rather not see it. He’d sworn he’d never use this as a hunting tool, but he had to think of Jack first. He needed to get Jack home.

Koz reached for the ache resting on the back of his neck and let the pain wash over him. He felt the change come on, starting at the extremities. His nails extended and curled into claws while the pads of his hands and feet grew dark and rough. The pain in his neck erupted into a horrendous full-body itch as fur sprouted along his neck, spreading across his shoulders and chest, then downward over his backside and groin.

His bones shifted and while it was not as painful as you might expect, but it still hurt like nothing else he’d ever experienced before. A burst of fiery agony ripped through his chest, his hole body rocked from a burst of pressure – someone had shot him – but it healed in an instant – only helping to blank out the pain of growing a new limb as Koz’s vertebrae stretched out from the base of his spine to form his tail.

He was on all fours now, unable to stand abreast, and the ache was gone. In its place was a rushing, whirling blood-pumping – fast – fast - urgency that snatched away all human thought.

DANGER.

He was in danger.

“Soph, run!” He smelled fear. Jamie. Afraid. Good!

“I can take him!”

“Oh, God.” Jack. Fear. Bad.

There was a tearing sound as Sophie transformed, not bothering to remove her clothes first as Koz had. Koz could smell the change in her, from human-werewolf, female, afraidexcited to wolf-werewolf, female, angryexcited.

“Shit!” Jamie ran towards her, stinking of fear. Of the two of them, he was the weaker one.

Koz burst forward and tackled the boy to the ground. Jamie was tiny compared to his massive black form. The boy flipped over and held up an arm in defense - Koz’s jaws closed over it, teeth sinking deep into flesh and scraping bones, blood filling and coating his mouth. Koz could break them. Snapsnapsnap! Just a little more pressure and a yank and he could tear the boy’s whole arm off if he wanted!

Bad.

No, he wasn’t supposed to bite was he? That was bad? For a moment, Koz’s addled mind struggled to recall what he was supposed to do and why. In that moment, Jamie reared up, brown eyes flashing gold as he changed just enough to enhance his strength. He lunged for Koz’s face, but his teeth found only the fur on Koz’s cheek, too thick for his human fangs to pierce. Koz let go of the boy’s arm as Jamie began to thrash beneath him, wrenching his arm from Koz’s mouth.

Koz lunged once more and dug into the boy’s newly exposed shoulder, but his teeth had barely pierced flesh before Jamie fisted one of his ears in his claws and yanked hard. Koz yelped.

All of this took place in a matter of seconds and then Sophie – in her tawny, lupine form - tackled Koz off the boy.

The two wolves were a blur of fur and teeth as they struggled to hold the other down, each unable to gain a decisive grip to pin the other.

A familiar fear filled Koz’s senses.

Jack.

Sophie made to lunge at him, ducking to his left in an attempt to grab his flank; he snapped at her in a fake lunge, and she beat a quick retreat as she tried to circle him for a clearer opening. She was fast, but he was much bigger. His golden eyes glanced towards the circle.

Bad!

Jamie, after being attacked by Koz, had dropped his gun. After a dazed moment of watching his sister wrestle the enemy wolf, he realized having a weapon would be ideal. Unfortunately Jack had had the same thought and ran from the protection of the druid circle to grab the gun before Jamie could.

Jack grabbed the shotgun by the barrel.

Bad, Jack, bad!

Koz turned and ran towards him, but Sophie darted around in front and barred his way.

Behind her, Jamie grabbed the shotgun handle and the two boys started a tug-of-war, with one struggling to get a finger on the trigger. Seeing his predicament, Jack changed tactics. As Jamie pulled the gun towards himself, Jack changed his angle and pushed, driving the butt of the gun into Jamie’s stomach and forcing all the wind from him.

Jack yanked the gun away, then stood a panicked moment as if wondering what to do next before he turned and ran back for the druid circle.

With a snarl, Sophie turned around and gave chase, Koz tearing after her.

Jack leapt through the protective barrier with Sophie snapping at his heels. Koz leapt, pinning her against the barrier. His jaws clamped down on the she-wolf’s skull. His teeth sank into fur and flesh and something warm squished over his tongue.

The she-wolf screamed. The sound surprised Koz so much, he let her pull away. Sophie staggered back, tail between her legs, crying and stumbling as blood poured down a gaping wound where her left eye had been.

“Sophie!” Jamie cried.

Koz watched the she-wolf’s panic, smelled her fear, and felt only a swelling sense of vicious pride. He snarled and lunged at her. The she-wolf let out a yip of fear and bolted away into the woods.

“Sophie!” Jamie cried, his voice vanishing as he hurried to follow her into the dark forest. “Sophie!”

Koz’s body was vibrating with energy. He shook to rid himself of the jittery feeling and licked the blood from his muzzle.

He turned towards the druid circle and saw Jack standing frozen and pale, knuckles white as he gripped Jamie’s shotgun in his hands, a deer in headlights. The scent of fear flooded the air as the massive black wolf stepped closer, lips curling over his reddened fangs.