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Description
One Final Night
By
Clint Wager
2003

Dane ran through the woods as fast as he could.  His legs were lead blocks.  Every stride was an act of pure willpower; the consequence of not moving fast enough lay behind him in a mass of fur and teeth, thirsting for him.  And so he ran, thorns growing from the trees which he could barely see cutting his face and slicing his exposed arms.  But through all this, she ran beside him, picking him up if he fell, and telling him to never stop.  She was one of them, but of all the people in the world, he trusted no other with his life more than her.  Dane barely noticed her clutching her side as they ran, the blood pouring from the open wound creating a trail of bread crumbs for their pursuers.  As they ran over the uneven, unforgiving muddy terrain, Dane hit a muddy embankment.  Before he knew what was happening, he was on his back, sliding down the hill as the cold mud worked it's way around him.  WHAM!  He hit the bottom of the hill face first, biting his tongue as his chin hit the ground.  Several seconds later, there was the dull thud as she hit the ground next to him.  Dane glanced up at where she landed.  She didn't rise.  She didn't even move.  He crawled over to her, his legs still numb from running.  Her back to him, he grasped her shoulder, turning her over.  Tears filled her eyes.  Dane spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper.  "Helen, honey, you have to get up.  We have to go."
She stared into his eyes as she spoke, struggling to get each word out as her strength faded.  "You have to go on.  You have to leave me here."
"What?  No!  We're going to make it through this.  We'll be together forever.  I promised...."
He glanced down at her side, saw the slices through her abdomen, the bites on her arms.  She wasn't going to make it anywhere on her own.  Not without him.  He didn't care.  He'd carry her.  Just then, she grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulled him in close.  She kissed him, her kiss a savage thing, the blood from her mouth filling his, and his hers.  Dane knew that this would be the last time he kissed her.  The kiss lasted several seconds, and then she moved her head next to his ear and whispered something, and it suddenly became clear to him.  He listened, and then looked into her eyes.  "I promise." He said as tears streamed down his cheeks.  "God, I Iove you.  I don't want to lose you."
She grasped his hand.  "I love you more than anything in this world.  I want you to always remember that." She said.  He put his arms around her and started to pick her up.  He'd carry her.  She'd be fine.  "No.  You're going to leave me!"  Came her reply.
"I told you, I'm not going to lose you!"  He yelled.
"I'm sorry," she said.  Claws shot out of her hands as her body began to swell and grow.  He dropped her, the added weight too much for him to carry.  Hair began to sprout from her shoulder, then her entire body.  Her clothes ripped away as a deep howl pierced the cold night.  A reply came from deep within the woods, a dozen more howls filled the night.  They were right on them.  And there she waited.  Her wounds larger from the changing.  Skin ripped away.  She shouldn't have been able to move, but she stood there, on all fours, ready to give their attackers hell.  Terrifying and Beautiful all at the same time.  God, she was gorgeous.
"Helen, change back.  I've got to carry you out of here."
She turned to him, her deep gutteral voice echoing through the night.  "GO, NOW."
But he couldn't.  "Helen, please..."
"GO!!!!!"  With one enormous hand she shoved him, and he flew through the air, hitting the ground ten feet away.  He looked at her, staring at him, and then they were upon her, they howled as the broke through they trees and shattered the blackness of the night, gnarled teeth reflecting the full moon that seemed to fill the sky.  "GO!!!"  She said as they enveloped her.  His tongue now burned, her blood inside of him, spreading throughout his entire body.  Dane got to his feet, and sprinted on the lead blocks that were once his legs.  He didn't look back.  He only heard the sounds.  Snarling. Screaming.  Shrieking.  Then silence.  He ran.  He didn't dare look back.  If he looked back, he might see something.  So he only looked ahead, and that's when he saw it.  The ground ended in front of him, it dropped down into god knows what.  He was on the side of a cliff.  Whatever awaited him below, he preferred it to the alternative.  He leapt feet first off the side.  He plummeted for what seemed like an eternity, then it hit him.  Freezing water, breaking his fall and slamming into him all at the same time.  He sank, the cold water engulfing him, but it was also masking his scent.  He knew this.  As long as he stayed submerged they couldn't find him.  He floated with the current, the rapid current pushed him around like a ragdoll.  Occasionally he was able to come up for breath before he was pushed back down by the water.  He needed more time.  How much more time?  How long did it take before it spread completely?  A day?  A week?  He didn't know.  Helen was born like she was.  He had no choice now but to survive, survive and wait.  But his entire body burned now, not just his tongue.  It wouldn't be long now.  He was going to make it, and he would keep his promise.  He already broke one.  He wouldn't let her down again.
* * *
Warm mud stuck to the side of his face.  The shallow water lapped at his feet.  Dane didn't know how long he lay there on the bank, unconscious, oblivious to the horror that no doubt awaited him.  He struggled to open his eyes, the sun hitting him square in the face.  His head pounded, his body ached, it felt like the worst hangover he'd ever had tenfold.  He was on the bank of the river, trees surrounding him, and mud covering the floor of entire area.  Condensation and sap dripped from the trees.  Birds sang in the distance without a care in the world.  He struggled to get to his feet, trying to stand there like a wind chime in a tornado, he immediately fell to his knees.  He vomited as his stomach began to rumble and burn.
You're going to die out here if you can't pull yourself together.  Came Helen's voice in his head.  Now move it!  Newfound strength surged through his body.  He stood, this time more easily than the last.  Dane wiped his chin and took a look around.  Maybe they'd lost him.  Maybe they had given up.  Sure, wishful thinking.  They'd hunt him to the bowels of hell.  He'd have to get out of here.  He'd have to make it to a road, a cabin.  Something.  Anything.  He stumbled through the woods, trying to make as little noise as possible, in case they were still out in force trying to find him.  The dozen cuts and bruises on him healed at an incredible rate as the day went on, a testament to his faster metabolism.  He stumbled in what seemed to be circles for hours.  There was no way to tell where you were going.  Every tree looked like every other tree.  And the trees went on and on.  There didn't seem to be an end to it.  He was going to die out here. But as time passed, he noticed things.  Things he never noticed before.  The sound of flies buzzing around the corpse of a dead raccoon fifteen feet away.  The smell of animals (both living and dead) a mile away.  He felt incredible.  He had been through hell the day before, but now he felt like he could run a marathon.  He went from being barely able to CRAWL to sprinting through the forest for ten minute bursts in a few short hours.  The thorns growing from the trees that had been his torment earlier were easily avoidable now, even while he was sprinting.  But unfortunately, nothing affected his sense of direction.  He still wandered aimlessy for hours, the sun disappearing from sight in the ensuing hours.  He wandered, but he didn't stop to rest.  He'd rest when he was dead.  He glanced up at the sky.  The sun was going to sleep for the night.  Then came the howling.  The sun was down now, the moon showing itself, and the howling a horrible precursor of what was still to come.  They'd found him and they were coming for him, cutting through the woods like a shark through the water, in search of it's helpless prey.  He ran, but he could hear them, snarling to each other.  He could SMELL them, a horrible mixture of death and filth, and a new smell.  They were excited.   They were coming to kill him, and that made them giddy.  Hell, maybe it even turned them on.
Dane ran.  This time he ran away from the smell and the noises.  But this now they seemed to come from all around him.  He could smell it in every direction.  He could hear it swarming around him.  He ran.  Tree after tree he passed, but he might as well have been running in place.  This was futile.  As he passed another tree, ducking to avoid a low hanging branch, it hit him.  It hit him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into the nearest tree, slamming into it with enough force that he let out a yelp as he slid to the ground.  Dane looked around frantically, scanning his surroundings.  Nothing, just the blackness of the night.  Whatever hit him was long gone.  Then he smelled it.  It approached from behind him, clasping one huge hand on the side of the tree, digging it's claws deep into the bark and piercing the trunk like it was tissue paper.  It slowly worked it way around to him, stared him right in the face.  Lips curled back, revealing jagged, sharp teeth that protruded from spotted gums.  It's mouth was bigger than Dane's head.  A tongue slid out from the black abyss that was it's mouth as it turned it's lips upward into a smile, taunting Dane.  Warm saliva dripped on Dane's leg, pouring from the monstrosities diseased mouth, rolling down it hairy chin.  Fluid dripped from it's nose, covering it's long snout.  Dane would have pissed his pants if he hadn't done so already.  The moon reflected off of the wolves eyes as more emerged from the woods behind it.  All of their eyes seemed to glow in the moon light.  They made grunting sounds to themselves as they smelled Dane's fear.  His fear, his urine, his sweat.  This was all a game to them.  He had never been more terrified in his entire life.  This was how he was going to die.  Just then, the demon staring at him lifted a hand to his face.  It dug a claw into his cheek, drawing blood, and then pushed it clear through into Dane's mouth.  He screamed in pain, and this just seemed to excite them more.  Tears streamed down his face as he glanced at the creature who was torturing him, and he noticed something.  Something caked around it's mouth, something dried, but still fresh.  Dane at first thought it was mud, or even shit.  But then he smelled it.  It was blood.  It was Helen's blood.  Helen.  She was gone.  She was gone and they did it.  They killed her.  They killed her and now they were going to pay.  Dane grabbed the claw embedded in his cheek.  It was too fast for the dumb animal to even realize what was happening.  He squeezed it, and twisted it.  Bone shattered in the werewolve's hand as it shrieked in pain.  Dane released what was left of the hand and clasped his other hand around it's neck.  He pushed back and down until the neck of the bastard broke, bone shattering.  Blood sprayed from it's mouth, it's nose, even it's ears as the neck collapsed in on itself and forced the remaining blood upwards.  It showered Dane, the smell exciting him.  He also smelled something new.  It was them.  THEY were scared now.  God, it WAS a turn on!  Dane dropped the beast as another sailed through the air at him, a much larger wolf with only one eye.  Dane was no longer afraid, rage filled his veins.  He put out his hands, pointing at the beast the flew towards him.  Claws shot out of his fingers, tearing away the flesh that covered them.  Dane screamed at the pain of this in unison with the wolf who landed on them.  The claws sunk deep into it's torso.  More of the wonderful warm liquid sprayed on Dane's legs as his hands swelled and the claws grew deep into the stomach of the beast.  The rest of the beasts ran around him moving back and forth, panicking.  They were scared shitless.  They charged at him as he dropped the impaled one-eyed wolf and leapt with all the strength his legs gave him.  He sailed through the air, landing on a rocky hill some fifteen feet above his attackers.  Dane fell on all fours.  His blood no longer burned, It boiled.  He let out a scream as hair sprouted out of his face and body.  Silky white hair that exploded from his every pore.  His lungs expanded, pushing out air as his rib cage grew, turning his scream into a deep bellow that echoed a mile in every direction.  His bones grew, nearly ripping the skin with it.  The bones around his nose expanded outward, revealing a protruding snout.  His muscles expanded.  He grew larger and larger, not noticing the ten wolves advancing toward him, surrounding him.  His clothes ripped away, and then the pain he felt disappeared.  He stood on his hind legs towering twelve feet in the air, twice the size of the largest remaining wolf.  His white hair glowing in the light cast by the full moon.  Rage continued to coarse through him.  This time, he was the hunter, and they were his prey.  In an instant, he was upon them, biting into a neck, tasting the sweet blood, shattering a spinal column, crushing a head.  Blood sprayed onto his coat, filled his mouth, covered his claws, stuck to his fangs.  The shrieks filled the night.  Some he played with, tearing off an arm, a jaw, or maybe just a finger.  The lucky ones never saw it coming.  Occasionally, one of them might land a bite, or slash him with their puny claws, but it was inevitable.  He ground them into pulp, he crushed them into nothing.  He was above them.  They were no match for him.  One tried to run from him.  He tracked it through the forest, knocking over trees more easily than a bulldozer.  His massive body cut a path through the dense woods.  When he found the creature he pursued, he slammed it into a tree until it quit moving, and then proceeded to tear it into little pieces.
The corpses of twelve werewolves filled the woods that night, parts of them scattered about.  An eye here, a head there.  Twelve werewolves, and his love.  He smelled her in the air, he breathed her in.  No longer lost in the woods, he felt at home.  He cut through the trees to locate her.  He found her body in a small clearing not far from where he left her the previous night.  In death, she was completely human.  Bites covered her naked body,  The blood covering her neck revealing the nature of the deathblow.  Her throat was ripped out, but blood covered her fingernails.  She went down with a fight.  Still the wolf, Dane wandered up to her body, a high wimper escaping him as he approached.  Her eyes were shut, she was a mess, but god, she was still beautiful.  Dane let out a howl, this one loud enough to pierce the night for five miles in every direction, then he rested his massive head on her stomach as he moved his arm around her waist.  He shut his eyes as he cried, the tears running down his fur onto her stomach.  Dane cried.  He cried until he couldn't cry any more.  Then he let himself slip into sleep, into his dreams where he ran ran with Helen, the two of them Wolves without a care in the world.  Through the night, Dane slept, and through the entire night, he clung to her.  He never let go.  He would never let her go.

Description
One Final Night
By
Clint Wager
2003

Dane ran through the woods as fast as he could.  His legs were lead blocks.  Every stride was an act of pure willpower; the consequence of not moving fast enough lay behind him in a mass of fur and teeth, thirsting for him.  And so he ran, thorns growing from the trees which he could barely see cutting his face and slicing his exposed arms.  But through all this, she ran beside him, picking him up if he fell, and telling him to never stop.  She was one of them, but of all the people in the world, he trusted no other with his life more than her.  Dane barely noticed her clutching her side as they ran, the blood pouring from the open wound creating a trail of bread crumbs for their pursuers.  As they ran over the uneven, unforgiving muddy terrain, Dane hit a muddy embankment.  Before he knew what was happening, he was on his back, sliding down the hill as the cold mud worked it's way around him.  WHAM!  He hit the bottom of the hill face first, biting his tongue as his chin hit the ground.  Several seconds later, there was the dull thud as she hit the ground next to him.  Dane glanced up at where she landed.  She didn't rise.  She didn't even move.  He crawled over to her, his legs still numb from running.  Her back to him, he grasped her shoulder, turning her over.  Tears filled her eyes.  Dane spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper.  "Helen, honey, you have to get up.  We have to go."
She stared into his eyes as she spoke, struggling to get each word out as her strength faded.  "You have to go on.  You have to leave me here."
"What?  No!  We're going to make it through this.  We'll be together forever.  I promised...."
He glanced down at her side, saw the slices through her abdomen, the bites on her arms.  She wasn't going to make it anywhere on her own.  Not without him.  He didn't care.  He'd carry her.  Just then, she grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulled him in close.  She kissed him, her kiss a savage thing, the blood from her mouth filling his, and his hers.  Dane knew that this would be the last time he kissed her.  The kiss lasted several seconds, and then she moved her head next to his ear and whispered something, and it suddenly became clear to him.  He listened, and then looked into her eyes.  "I promise." He said as tears streamed down his cheeks.  "God, I Iove you.  I don't want to lose you."
She grasped his hand.  "I love you more than anything in this world.  I want you to always remember that." She said.  He put his arms around her and started to pick her up.  He'd carry her.  She'd be fine.  "No.  You're going to leave me!"  Came her reply.
"I told you, I'm not going to lose you!"  He yelled.
"I'm sorry," she said.  Claws shot out of her hands as her body began to swell and grow.  He dropped her, the added weight too much for him to carry.  Hair began to sprout from her shoulder, then her entire body.  Her clothes ripped away as a deep howl pierced the cold night.  A reply came from deep within the woods, a dozen more howls filled the night.  They were right on them.  And there she waited.  Her wounds larger from the changing.  Skin ripped away.  She shouldn't have been able to move, but she stood there, on all fours, ready to give their attackers hell.  Terrifying and Beautiful all at the same time.  God, she was gorgeous.
"Helen, change back.  I've got to carry you out of here."
She turned to him, her deep gutteral voice echoing through the night.  "GO, NOW."
But he couldn't.  "Helen, please..."
"GO!!!!!"  With one enormous hand she shoved him, and he flew through the air, hitting the ground ten feet away.  He looked at her, staring at him, and then they were upon her, they howled as the broke through they trees and shattered the blackness of the night, gnarled teeth reflecting the full moon that seemed to fill the sky.  "GO!!!"  She said as they enveloped her.  His tongue now burned, her blood inside of him, spreading throughout his entire body.  Dane got to his feet, and sprinted on the lead blocks that were once his legs.  He didn't look back.  He only heard the sounds.  Snarling. Screaming.  Shrieking.  Then silence.  He ran.  He didn't dare look back.  If he looked back, he might see something.  So he only looked ahead, and that's when he saw it.  The ground ended in front of him, it dropped down into god knows what.  He was on the side of a cliff.  Whatever awaited him below, he preferred it to the alternative.  He leapt feet first off the side.  He plummeted for what seemed like an eternity, then it hit him.  Freezing water, breaking his fall and slamming into him all at the same time.  He sank, the cold water engulfing him, but it was also masking his scent.  He knew this.  As long as he stayed submerged they couldn't find him.  He floated with the current, the rapid current pushed him around like a ragdoll.  Occasionally he was able to come up for breath before he was pushed back down by the water.  He needed more time.  How much more time?  How long did it take before it spread completely?  A day?  A week?  He didn't know.  Helen was born like she was.  He had no choice now but to survive, survive and wait.  But his entire body burned now, not just his tongue.  It wouldn't be long now.  He was going to make it, and he would keep his promise.  He already broke one.  He wouldn't let her down again.
* * *
Warm mud stuck to the side of his face.  The shallow water lapped at his feet.  Dane didn't know how long he lay there on the bank, unconscious, oblivious to the horror that no doubt awaited him.  He struggled to open his eyes, the sun hitting him square in the face.  His head pounded, his body ached, it felt like the worst hangover he'd ever had tenfold.  He was on the bank of the river, trees surrounding him, and mud covering the floor of entire area.  Condensation and sap dripped from the trees.  Birds sang in the distance without a care in the world.  He struggled to get to his feet, trying to stand there like a wind chime in a tornado, he immediately fell to his knees.  He vomited as his stomach began to rumble and burn.
You're going to die out here if you can't pull yourself together.  Came Helen's voice in his head.  Now move it!  Newfound strength surged through his body.  He stood, this time more easily than the last.  Dane wiped his chin and took a look around.  Maybe they'd lost him.  Maybe they had given up.  Sure, wishful thinking.  They'd hunt him to the bowels of hell.  He'd have to get out of here.  He'd have to make it to a road, a cabin.  Something.  Anything.  He stumbled through the woods, trying to make as little noise as possible, in case they were still out in force trying to find him.  The dozen cuts and bruises on him healed at an incredible rate as the day went on, a testament to his faster metabolism.  He stumbled in what seemed to be circles for hours.  There was no way to tell where you were going.  Every tree looked like every other tree.  And the trees went on and on.  There didn't seem to be an end to it.  He was going to die out here. But as time passed, he noticed things.  Things he never noticed before.  The sound of flies buzzing around the corpse of a dead raccoon fifteen feet away.  The smell of animals (both living and dead) a mile away.  He felt incredible.  He had been through hell the day before, but now he felt like he could run a marathon.  He went from being barely able to CRAWL to sprinting through the forest for ten minute bursts in a few short hours.  The thorns growing from the trees that had been his torment earlier were easily avoidable now, even while he was sprinting.  But unfortunately, nothing affected his sense of direction.  He still wandered aimlessy for hours, the sun disappearing from sight in the ensuing hours.  He wandered, but he didn't stop to rest.  He'd rest when he was dead.  He glanced up at the sky.  The sun was going to sleep for the night.  Then came the howling.  The sun was down now, the moon showing itself, and the howling a horrible precursor of what was still to come.  They'd found him and they were coming for him, cutting through the woods like a shark through the water, in search of it's helpless prey.  He ran, but he could hear them, snarling to each other.  He could SMELL them, a horrible mixture of death and filth, and a new smell.  They were excited.   They were coming to kill him, and that made them giddy.  Hell, maybe it even turned them on.
Dane ran.  This time he ran away from the smell and the noises.  But this now they seemed to come from all around him.  He could smell it in every direction.  He could hear it swarming around him.  He ran.  Tree after tree he passed, but he might as well have been running in place.  This was futile.  As he passed another tree, ducking to avoid a low hanging branch, it hit him.  It hit him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into the nearest tree, slamming into it with enough force that he let out a yelp as he slid to the ground.  Dane looked around frantically, scanning his surroundings.  Nothing, just the blackness of the night.  Whatever hit him was long gone.  Then he smelled it.  It approached from behind him, clasping one huge hand on the side of the tree, digging it's claws deep into the bark and piercing the trunk like it was tissue paper.  It slowly worked it way around to him, stared him right in the face.  Lips curled back, revealing jagged, sharp teeth that protruded from spotted gums.  It's mouth was bigger than Dane's head.  A tongue slid out from the black abyss that was it's mouth as it turned it's lips upward into a smile, taunting Dane.  Warm saliva dripped on Dane's leg, pouring from the monstrosities diseased mouth, rolling down it hairy chin.  Fluid dripped from it's nose, covering it's long snout.  Dane would have pissed his pants if he hadn't done so already.  The moon reflected off of the wolves eyes as more emerged from the woods behind it.  All of their eyes seemed to glow in the moon light.  They made grunting sounds to themselves as they smelled Dane's fear.  His fear, his urine, his sweat.  This was all a game to them.  He had never been more terrified in his entire life.  This was how he was going to die.  Just then, the demon staring at him lifted a hand to his face.  It dug a claw into his cheek, drawing blood, and then pushed it clear through into Dane's mouth.  He screamed in pain, and this just seemed to excite them more.  Tears streamed down his face as he glanced at the creature who was torturing him, and he noticed something.  Something caked around it's mouth, something dried, but still fresh.  Dane at first thought it was mud, or even shit.  But then he smelled it.  It was blood.  It was Helen's blood.  Helen.  She was gone.  She was gone and they did it.  They killed her.  They killed her and now they were going to pay.  Dane grabbed the claw embedded in his cheek.  It was too fast for the dumb animal to even realize what was happening.  He squeezed it, and twisted it.  Bone shattered in the werewolve's hand as it shrieked in pain.  Dane released what was left of the hand and clasped his other hand around it's neck.  He pushed back and down until the neck of the bastard broke, bone shattering.  Blood sprayed from it's mouth, it's nose, even it's ears as the neck collapsed in on itself and forced the remaining blood upwards.  It showered Dane, the smell exciting him.  He also smelled something new.  It was them.  THEY were scared now.  God, it WAS a turn on!  Dane dropped the beast as another sailed through the air at him, a much larger wolf with only one eye.  Dane was no longer afraid, rage filled his veins.  He put out his hands, pointing at the beast the flew towards him.  Claws shot out of his fingers, tearing away the flesh that covered them.  Dane screamed at the pain of this in unison with the wolf who landed on them.  The claws sunk deep into it's torso.  More of the wonderful warm liquid sprayed on Dane's legs as his hands swelled and the claws grew deep into the stomach of the beast.  The rest of the beasts ran around him moving back and forth, panicking.  They were scared shitless.  They charged at him as he dropped the impaled one-eyed wolf and leapt with all the strength his legs gave him.  He sailed through the air, landing on a rocky hill some fifteen feet above his attackers.  Dane fell on all fours.  His blood no longer burned, It boiled.  He let out a scream as hair sprouted out of his face and body.  Silky white hair that exploded from his every pore.  His lungs expanded, pushing out air as his rib cage grew, turning his scream into a deep bellow that echoed a mile in every direction.  His bones grew, nearly ripping the skin with it.  The bones around his nose expanded outward, revealing a protruding snout.  His muscles expanded.  He grew larger and larger, not noticing the ten wolves advancing toward him, surrounding him.  His clothes ripped away, and then the pain he felt disappeared.  He stood on his hind legs towering twelve feet in the air, twice the size of the largest remaining wolf.  His white hair glowing in the light cast by the full moon.  Rage continued to coarse through him.  This time, he was the hunter, and they were his prey.  In an instant, he was upon them, biting into a neck, tasting the sweet blood, shattering a spinal column, crushing a head.  Blood sprayed onto his coat, filled his mouth, covered his claws, stuck to his fangs.  The shrieks filled the night.  Some he played with, tearing off an arm, a jaw, or maybe just a finger.  The lucky ones never saw it coming.  Occasionally, one of them might land a bite, or slash him with their puny claws, but it was inevitable.  He ground them into pulp, he crushed them into nothing.  He was above them.  They were no match for him.  One tried to run from him.  He tracked it through the forest, knocking over trees more easily than a bulldozer.  His massive body cut a path through the dense woods.  When he found the creature he pursued, he slammed it into a tree until it quit moving, and then proceeded to tear it into little pieces.
The corpses of twelve werewolves filled the woods that night, parts of them scattered about.  An eye here, a head there.  Twelve werewolves, and his love.  He smelled her in the air, he breathed her in.  No longer lost in the woods, he felt at home.  He cut through the trees to locate her.  He found her body in a small clearing not far from where he left her the previous night.  In death, she was completely human.  Bites covered her naked body,  The blood covering her neck revealing the nature of the deathblow.  Her throat was ripped out, but blood covered her fingernails.  She went down with a fight.  Still the wolf, Dane wandered up to her body, a high wimper escaping him as he approached.  Her eyes were shut, she was a mess, but god, she was still beautiful.  Dane let out a howl, this one loud enough to pierce the night for five miles in every direction, then he rested his massive head on her stomach as he moved his arm around her waist.  He shut his eyes as he cried, the tears running down his fur onto her stomach.  Dane cried.  He cried until he couldn't cry any more.  Then he let himself slip into sleep, into his dreams where he ran ran with Helen, the two of them Wolves without a care in the world.  Through the night, Dane slept, and through the entire night, he clung to her.  He never let go.  He would never let her go.