William
I'm deep in thought, tormented by my own head.
Is there a way to separate my fairy blood from the rest of my senses and my mind? Could I somehow become a full-fledged werewolf and live a happy life without this bloodlust driving me insane?
I ask myself that question as I walk through our town.
Riley sits on my back, gripping my fur as other werewolves stare at us. There are no humans on the streets, probably because giant werewolves are now ruling the city.
Few of them are running past as if it's normal, and human pulls their curtains to hide in their homes. A few human children are staring at me as I walk past their window, but a mother drags them away.
Her eyes are terrified, showing every sign of fear, and I swallow thickly at what she must have seen to shelter such terror. The werewolves who destroyed the cars and the homes on this street must have been ruthless.
"Everything is in such chaos..." Riley is staring at the broken glass shattered from a store. Every item is stolen, and the walls are sprayed with paw signatures. "Werewolves are supposed to live in secret, not rule the entire world... Now they are doing graffiti with their paws?"
'It's insane...' I tell Riley through my telepathic abilities. 'I never expected things to go this far...'
"And I thought this street was for everyone, but now there are werewolf guards behind every apartment and corner?"
'Things are about to change,' I say and growl at a werewolf glaring at us. 'I don't like how all the werewolves are looking at us as if it's wrong for us to walk here.'
"This place was natural for every werewolf pack, and now it reeks of the Crescent pack, and I don't like it. They have grown in numbers—the smell hints at that. They are stronger now."
'That's another bad sign since they aren't a friendly pack.'
"What is happening, William?" Riley sobs, inhaling to calm herself. Yet it does nothing to dry her salty tears. "Nothing makes sense anymore, and the world is falling apart."
'It's indeed bad... I wonder what has become of our school since people seem to live in such fear they don't dare go outside. It could be abandoned, or perhaps there are only werewolf students?'
"I'm afraid to find out the answer..." Riley says.
I continue walking down the street, stopping when a guillotine stands in the city's center. I've only seen them in picture books. It must have taken time to prepare it, and my heart stops at the line up to it.
"Next human!" a werewolf yells.
"Please!" a woman screams. "Don't do this! I have a family!"
The werewolf spits in her face. "Dirty human blood."
"What the fuck is happening," Riley whispers.
I wish there was an explanation to give her, but pure madness is happening on the street. There is no excuse.
A human woman is walking up to the guillotine. She is shaking and crying, but there is no mercy on the werewolf guard's face. He pushes her toward her fate, and there is a massive line behind her.
More people are about to die.
I shudder.
'These are human executions.'
"What?!" Riley sucks in a deep breath. I can taste her fear like it's my own, and she squirms on my pack. "That's Killian standing there. I've seen pictures of him before. He is the alpha of the Bloodmoon pack."
My gaze narrows. 'Killian's pack must have merged with the Crescent pack because he carries the same smell.'
"Yes, you're right—" Riley's sentence dies, and she screams in fright when the guillotine chops off a woman's head. "What the hell?!"
'We should leave,' I stare at the human head rolling down the street to stop by the curb. 'I'm not sure what is happening to our world right now, but one thing is for sure—humans are no longer in control.'
"That much is obvious," Riley sounds like she is crying. "And please, take me away. I can't stand watching this anymore..."
Riley's discomfort is understandable. The air smells like blood and death, and the whole atmosphere reeks of a change in power. The supernaturals are taking over; I can feel it in my bones.
I sprint forward, taking us away from the human executions. Riley is sobbing, and the cries become louder as we pass a heap of dead human bodies with notes stuck to their faces.
The colorful notes glued to the humans say:
"Down with the old."
"Die, human trash."
"Humans should be slaves."
"This is a disaster," Riley whispers. "Never in my deepest nightmares did I witness supernaturals taking over the world and mass slaughtering humans like they are animals."
I eye a dead human girl, shuddering when I notice she is wearing a jacket made of wolf fur. It makes sense why the Crescent pack would kill her—it's always pissed werewolves off that humans wear other animals' skin on their naked bodies.
Still, it gave them no right to take her life.
'Yes, things have gone too far,' I agree. 'It's never right to mass execute people just because of their race.'
According to my father's tales, a war between the races was why werewolves were banished from the magical realm many eons ago.
Werewolves are aggressive creatures who seek power, but at least in the other domain, they couldn't grow in numbers because the fairies fed on them.
It made the werewolves wish to leave. They didn't want to be eaten. Werewolves fought for their rights and claimed they would fit into the human society, so they were allowed to leave.
But it seems it werewolves are tired of not being the ones in control.
"How do we stop this?" Riley asks in a teary voice. "What if they continue killing not only humans but anyone they deem weak? William, I'm afraid, so terribly afraid."
I can hear the pain and the dread in my mate's voice. She is scared of the future, shaking while on my back. It gives wake to the insane need to protect her. Riley is precious. Mine. And I would kill anyone who dared put their hand on her.
'You don't have to worry,' I promise her. 'I won't let anyone touch you. You're my mate, and if this is the beginning of a war, I will fight to protect you until my last breath.'
"This must be the beginning of a new ear and a war," Riley whispers. "This feels like the apocalypse, and I don't like it."
'Me neither.'