"Well, sister. What's so terribly urgent?"
I came immediately to the point, let the power flow through me and turned into the werewolf. The horses were frightened and shrunk back, threw their riders down and ran away. My friends lay on the floor, staring stunned into my face. Their mouths remained open and they were speechless. I signaled to them that I posed no danger by lying on the floor and whimpering like a dog asking for attention. After some time I finished the play and took on vampire shape again.
"Well, what do you say?"
"What do we say to that? Lis, you just turned into a two-meter werewolf right in front of us on broad daylight.“
"I'm aware it must seem very shocking to you, I'm in the same situation. But I had to involve you.“
Tim was beside himself. "Who else knows about this?"
„Except you, only our mother knows. And she told me not to tell anyone, father in particular.“
"And now you're dragging us into this? If mother tells you anything, it's for a good reason, so why are you doing this? Why couldn't you keep it to yourself?"
"Because I need a pack“, it burst out of me, this urge I tried to smother, but couldn't, "a wolf‘s nothing without its pack. I can't go to the other wolves, they won't accept me. You're the only ones I trust one hundred percent.“
"Look, Lis“, it was Sebastian, the meek one among them, who now took the floor, "we're not werewolves, probably we couldn't serve you well enough, like a werewolf needs from its pack. I don't even know if we could go hunting with you.“
"Why not? What‘s the difference between vampires and wolves in their hunting methods? Aren't they both monsters and don't they both kill in the same bestial way? Wolves hunt in packs, doesn't mean vampires can't. We'd hunt off the hunting grounds, I'd never put you in danger. Guys, come on, I need you guys right now. You're my closest friends. Please give me some proof that you trust me too. Accept me for who I am, because it's not my fault. And if it can be arranged somehow, then you won't tell anyone.“
Concerned they stared holes into the sky, as if nobody wanted to understand how I was just. Tim approached me with just a few steps, grabbed my hand and looked deep into my eyes.
"You're my sister no matter what. I will always support you and never stab you in the back. So, yes, your secret is safe with me.“
His embrace made me feel safe. Frederick and Sebastian also swore their loyalty to me and joined in the embrace. All three of them stood around me, forming a kind of wall to protect me. I‘d still need this protection, because the strength of a wolf is its pack.
Caught
An essential advantage of being a werewolf was that my senses were now sharper. It was a starry night, we had mid-October. I was on my way to Crux and thanks to my new skills I could hear his snoring from far away. I was in the shape of a wolf and, as always, very careful. Crux was asleep, he didn't notice me. On quiet paws I crept up to him, his tail suddenly moved and danced around me. In the cave only dimmed light prevailed; here and there small fires burned. He opened his eyes and his pupils formed into slits. Then his voice echoed through the cave.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
I approached him only timidly, after all, his figure overtook mine by far. The hot breath from his snout came towards me when my face almost touched him. His nostrils widened, he absorbed my smell.
"Larissa? Is that you? What does that mean?"
I withdrew into the darkness, his hot breath following me. Emerging from the darkness, I showed myself to him as a vampire.
"Yes, Crux. You saw right. I'm not only a vampire and a witch, but a werewolf also came to life in me. I want you to know that, that's why I came here.“
He straightened up to full height.
"Well, that's very prudent of you and very interesting too I sense you'll have great things to do. You seem to play an important role for someone, but I can't see who it is.“
Dragons, they were said, couldn‘t only look into the deepest parts of a soul, no, if their eye had once grasped the soul of a mortal or a nonmortal, they were able to look far into its future. The premonitions mostly hit the mark and so it had often happened in the past that a human being or a supernatural being stood up well with a fire snake to always be clear about his fate. I didn't go into Crux's knowledge or ignorance at the moment. I was glad I got this thing over with.
"It's just that“, I continued, "no one shall know about it.“
He made a gesture with his hand as if he would close his mouth with a key and threw it symbolically away. I had understood. The good thing about Crux was he didn't ask me holes in my stomach. What I said was true for him. One week after the foundation of my little pack, we all went hunting at night. We hunted a little further away from the usual vampire fishing areas, so that no one could find out what was going on. Many of the vampires no longer caught their prey in the classic way anyway. The older and more powerful among us had copied hunting on horses with a crossbow from the people and have done so since then. Shooting with the crossbow was great, I had tried it dozens of times myself, but against the natural instinct, we younger could fight badly. For tonight we had chosen a piece of the forest at least an hour's walk from the castle. We quickly explored the surroundings to see if there were any humans or other creatures nearby and we were ready. Frederick had spotted a deer. He pointed me in the right direction. Quick as arrows we shot at our target, me in the wolf shape. The animal hadn't noticed us, it was just drinking from a small puddle. It should be mine, my moment to present my werewolf skills to the boys. I went into lurking position, stalked myself, pushed myself off with my hind paws and drilled my claws into the juicy deer meat. The stag was immediately dead, for I never let my prey suffer for long. The boys applauded, I tore the meat to pieces with my bare hands and handed one to each. But then, the blood just ran down the corner of my mouth, my ears stood up. Noises approached them, they came from further east, not far from us. I could hear steps, but not from two legs, but from four. Damn, there was another werewolf on the way. The others had also heard it and set themselves in motion. The faster we ran, the faster the strange steps became; he had caught us. Better I didn't change, or he'd follow my smell. I hid behind a hazelnut bush, curiosity had seized me and I wanted to know who it was. My pack was long gone. Then I heard a familiar voice.
"Who is it? Come out of your hiding place.“
It was my dear friend Sven. I didn't have to hide anymore and I stepped out.
"Sven, it's me.“
"Lis? What‘ going on here?“, he looked at me in disbelief at the miserable moonlight, „I picked up a trail there in front, that of a werewolf. It leads to you, but how can it be?"
What a fucking mess. That another werewolf would cross my path so far outside the hunting grounds was already too much, but that it had to be Sven, of all people, didn't please me at all. How I could fix it, God knows.
"I can't believe this. You, a werewolf?"
"Sven, listen. You know it now. But don't tell anyone.“
"Why, what's wrong?"
"It would be bad luck if the wrong people found out about this. You‘re inaugurated, Tim, Seb and Freddy and of course Crux and more shouldn’t experience it. Promise me you'll keep it to yourself.“
Without further hesitation, he gave me his consent. „Your secret is safe with me, I will keep silent like a grave.“
I trusted Sven to keep it to himself, I was sure of that. Nevertheless, I didn't like the thought of having to take him into my pack additionally. It wasn't planned that way, but things happen and sometimes you can't do anything about it.
"What the hell are you doing out so far? The werewolf fishing