Eternal Moon

Chapter Five: Ghosts and Grime

He could feel the cold caress of the wind as he ran through the trees. The soft, white light of the moon brushed its fingers through his fur. The coppery taste of blood in his mouth mixed with fear, desperation, and survival. He could hear the harsh breaths of his prey like a staccato rhythm urging him on. Closer, closer. That scent of sweat and horror. He could hear every branch that she swiped away from her face, every crack of the bramble underneath her feet. That heartbeat pumping the blood that he so wanted to spill open and lap up. That heart that would split apart under his teeth and go down his gullet like water. Her breaths were like a siren's call, quickening his pace to lightning speed. Any moment now he would topple her, snatch her away from her safe existence, and devour her piece by piece under the light of the beautiful full moon.

Kane woke from his dream with a furiously thundering heart. He grabbed ahold of his body just to make sure that he was still human and had not actually transformed into his beast, sighing with relief when he confirmed he was awake. It was not uncommon for him to dream about his beast, to see through the monster's eyes. But he had sensed that his prey in the dream was none other than Jamie and he had never dreamed about stalking a particular person.

The shame and guilt that came with being a werewolf were even worse than the transformation itself. And that was hell on earth. The first time he had turned into a werewolf, he had vomited halfway through due to the pain. First, it felt as if his entire body was on fire. Like burning alive. Then it had felt as if it was stretching as if something was trying to break out underneath the skin. Then the bones had begun to lengthen and the joints had broken and dislocated in order to make room for new ones. Limb by limb transformed into a longer, more canine version of his own. When the skin did split open, thick, dark fur sprouted out instead. His face elongated into a snout full of sharp fangs, growing more teeth in a matter of seconds rather than days. And his vision went sharp, turning into a black-and-white picture of the world. A world that was infinitely different than his own. Because the final thing to go when he changed was his mind. As the beast took over his body, all of the traits that man prided himself on - logic, reason, compassion, love - evaporated. All that existed was hunger, desire, the need to take what one wanted.

Sometimes he felt as if the beast was brave enough to take what he, Kane, really wanted. The beast took full rein of three thousand acres and ate whatever it wanted. It ran to its heart's content, went wherever it pleased, and attacked anything that threatened its domain. Even as laird, Kane had not felt as if he deserved such reign. His father had still been the laird when Kane was cursed. Kane had merely inherited the role because his parents had left before he had a chance to murder them. As more and more villagers left, Kane found himself the leader of a small gaggle of those who were too poor or too lazy to not leave Gealach Lán. He had not earned the role of a laird, nor did he deserve it.

He had tried to rectify that in whatever way he could. Yesterday it had been by saving Jamie's life from some werewolf that he still needed to investigate. Today it would be by attending to his remaining tenants. He had woken earlier than normal that morning and after checking in on the sleeping Jamie, had left the castle and headed towards the front of the town.

Deidra and her sister, Mary, ran the pub and its adjoining restaurant and had always treated Kane with kindness and reverence. Their family line had stayed out of loyalty even though it had dwindled down to just Deidra and Mary. Two sisters who accepted him as he was and merely asked for some occasional help in return. Today that help was cleaning up the car he had destroyed and then patching some shingles on the pub roof after the storm.

"How's the girl?" Deidra asked from behind the bar as Kane gathered his supplies, and had a morning Guinness.

"She tried to run off yesterday," he admitted. "I angered her something fierce and she got herself caught in some hole in the woods. Broke her ankle."