Into The Forest

[TARYN CHERLIN BASKOV]

I’ll be the first to admit, I like to go looking for trouble. I never play on the safe side. Much to boring and dull for my taste. That’s probably how I ended up like this in the first place. My species? I’m a hunter. I actually like solitude. Well, except in the town. I don’t work, so when I need money, I mug a human. I hang out at the bar on the weekends. I party like there is no tomorrow.

My life story is a rather tragic one. I was taught that all my life, the only thing to do is to kill werewolves. I killed my first werewolf at 16, and it was the proudest thing in my life. Now, at age 26, I hunt for werewolves daily. My weapon of choice? I use all kinds. I fancy the cruelest kind of murder though, poison. I specially designed all kinds of poison. I even have poison lipstick that knocks you out in less than a minute. My lover was a human. But one night, he was changed to a werewolf. I didn’t see him till a year later.

I did find my lover one night, with another girl. It broke my heart to pieces. I spent months upset. I had not seen him for a year, and now he barely remembers me. It hurt, bad. But I got over him, and I did get my revenge… I poisoned him. I don’t know what became of his girl wolf, and I really don’t care. He hurt me, I hurt him. Sure, it seemed cruel, but I was upset and hurt.

Back to the point, trouble. Yes, I like trouble. Killing werewolves is a sport to me. I often cream rouges for the fun of it. I made myself a cabin in the North Woods, and it’s all to myself. I sometimes find werewolves there, so why shouldn’t I rid the North Woods of the vermin. Humans like to camp here and hike here, so werewolves need to scram.

If you take away my hunter status, I have nothing. Though I would much like to befriend a wolf. Experiment, a little of an insider job,if you know what I mean. Figure out how they work or think. Give the info to the government to become one of the best Hunters ever. Secretly, deep down, I would love to, for once, not worry about killing something. I have no non-hunter friends, and befriending a wolf would be a challenge. I like a challenge.

I walked to my fishing lake with my towel in hand. I dropped the towel by the shore and leapt into it. I much fancied fish for dinner. I splashed around to scare the fishes so I could spot them easier. ‘Good thing I’m wearing waterproof make-up’ I muttered to myself and stuck my head underwater. My t shirt and shorts dragged me slower, but with quick reflexes, I snagged a fish and brought it to the surface to examine it. I grunted in disgust when I saw the size of the fish. I set it free and splashed around again to try to catch another. A flawed theory, but it works.

[VIKTOR LORENZ ALSVIK]

Every never endings screamed as if each microscopic tip had been lit on fire. My joints burned something fierce. I kept having moments where I would feel light headed and dizzy because of my vision changing; it kept flickering back and forth between what I saw as my normal vision and the crisp and clean vision of what I will now have. My skin felt like it was crawling, thousands of little fire hands across its surface, or even like I had stuck my finger in a light socket and I was being electrocuted. Everything felt like it was on fire, I even felt hot to the touch like I was burning off a fever. And not to mention what I was feeling inside of me. It was the weirdest sensation. It felt like I had a parasite inside of me growing with every passing moment, stretching inside of me. This parasite was fur covered, the soft fur brushing against me from the inside. It felt like it was trying to tear me apart from the inside. It wanted out and I wanted it out if it would just stop all of this pain, it was maddening.

I didn’t know where to go. No, I had no place to go. Nowhere was safe for me, everyone was a potential hit man. Sure, they would send my handler after me first. I know how he was going to attempt to find me, what he would do when he found me, and the whole procedure for tagging and bagging me. I know the whole ins and outs of the Hunter and Handler regulations. I am – was – a Hunter. Now I’m infected. I’m the first of this kind… this New Species that has made it past the usual forty-eight hour time they wish for infected Hunters to be killed. Sure, I may have killed a few people – people who I once thought as brothers and sisters, fellow Hunters. But my life means more to me than anyone else’s; this is what has allowed me to live as long as I have with this risky job.

My body was beaten after my encounter with that mutt. A dark bruise was blossomed across my left cheek bone, a small cut from where the force of impact split my skin laid over it. I’m pretty sure I had a broken rib or two as well. I know I feel like shit, I probably looked it too. I could feel the changing happening in my body. I could feel this… this wolf forming inside of me. This fucking thing… Just a small amount of lycan blood ripped everything away from me. My body may be infected and beaten but my mind threatened to break. Everything gone. My life. My career. Barrett… Gone.

After I took a hell of a beating from one old ass mother fucking dog that infected me I had known that I would only have minutes to get to my house and back out. News of an infected Hunter spreads fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if that dog was telling all his doggie friends that he managed to infect Death. My gun was already a weapon against me. The silver plated weapon was now an allergen to me; I couldn’t touch it without my skin burning. Gloves were the first thing I grabbed since most of my weapons were silver or silver plated. I had grabbed a bag in my basement that I had always had packed… just in case. It contained weapons, clothes, and dried food. I had changed quickly into a pair of black jeans, the black leather boots I normally wore hunting, a hunter green tee shirt, and a black thermal sweat shirt.

I was out the door in three minutes. A sleeping bag strapped to my bag. My bow and quiver was also strapped to my person.

Into the woods I went.

That was four days ago. I’ve been constantly moving. Days I’ve spent up in a tree or in a cave, at night I was moving. Hunters always had excellent night vision, now it was like I was seeing the woods in broad daylight while the moon was still high in the sky.

Today I was flushed out of the tree I was resting in because the fools that were following me had poured water on their fire. Pouring water on a fire causes a lot of smoke; I was able to smell it when the wind picked it up. It was far too close to my liking so I took to path. Well worn boots and well practiced movements allowed me to move through the woods with virtually no sound in my wake.

With a slight grimace from the sudden movement but I stopped dead in my tracks. My head tilting slightly as I listened carefully. I could hear soft words spoken, splashing to water following shortly after. I walked forward again; my hands clad in black leather gloves pulled my bow from my back, quickly stringing the glossy wood with the string that had been wrapped around it. I pulled an arrow from the quiver and notched it as I moved forward again.

Startling blue eyes soon caught sight of a blonde woman splashing about in the water like a buffoon. I moved just inside the cover of the trees, my arrow trained on the woman as I made my way through the trees a little closer.

[TARYN CHERLIN BASKOV]

I stopped, cold. I smelt him. I had to figure out my attack plan. I frowned. He didn't smell right. A mix, almost. The sound of his heart filled my ears, and it was rapid fire. I let out a small gasp. He wasn't right. But why? I got out of the lake, and pretended to be interested in a flower while I applied my poison lipstick, just in case. I wrapped myself in my big, fluffy towel and sat on the beach. I sat there for about 3 minutes listening to the beat of his heart, trying to trace a pattern. I tried to pinpoint what he was, but I had no idea. Whatever it was, I needed to talk to him.

"I know your there" I shouted to him "I'm not going to hurt you, just talk and be civil, and if you are trying to hide from hunters, at least try to cover your scent. Roll around in a dead squirrel or something" I said sarcastically.

I put my lace up boots and slowly walked up the hill. I caught sight of a man hiding behind a tree, acting like if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him. I snorted at the thought of that. Careful to keep my distance, I took in every detail of his face. He took quite a beating, that's for sure. He looked like he needed help. The smell of Axe body spray and blood lingered in the air and it made me want to puke. I hated the smell and sight of blood. That's why I much prefer poison. I motioned for him to come out

[VIKTOR LORENZ ALSVIK]

It was a struggle to not let out a snort. Really? ‘I know you’re there.’ Of course she did. If I didn’t want her to know I was here then she wouldn’t know. I’m known as Death for a reason. It’s not because of a penchant desire to go around willy nilly shooting everything moving up. You have to have tact to hunt werewolves. It is an art, a skill like no other.

Cold, so cold, dead eyes were locked on her as I stepped out from behind a tree, taking just a couple steps out from behind their safety. My bow was taught with the tension, poised ready to let the arrow fly. A very foreign noise crept up my throat, a deep growl rumbled in my chest at her jarring comments of my newly infected state. Is this what it felt like to be on the other end of those comments? I’ve always been able to Hunt with a laugh, poking fun at the lycans with derogatory comments about being dogs or mutts. I really didn’t like those comments being directed at me. A whisper, just the faintest woofing echoed in the back of my mind. Apparently the mutt inside me didn’t much care for it either, that was an interesting feeling…

Eyes narrowed dangerously as tilted my bow just slightly and let it fly. It soared the distance between us, the sharp blade of the tip grazing the rubbery edge of her boots before sinking deep into the earth. Before that arrow had made it just feet past my finger tips that were wrapped around the thick of my bow another arrow had taken its place, notched and poised to be fired. ”I’d advise you to hold your tongue lest you see one of these coming at your face,” the timber of my voice was dark, a deep rumbling growl.

I watched her cautiously. I couldn’t help that periodically a low growl would trickle past clenched teeth. She knew what I was… well… what I am now she must have no clue as to who I really am and the caliber of Hunter I was until just a few short days ago. Instead of a growl, now a low chuckle past my lips. Silly woman. Even Hunters should show some kind of restraint before baiting a werewolf. I started for just a nanosecond; I had actually called myself a werewolf. Boy was I in some deep shit.

[TARYN CHERLIN BASKOV]

I held up a gun to his head. "I wouldn't" I snapped "I'm trying to help you, not hurt you. Your hurt, I want answers." I reached into my bag and pulled out a first aid kit and held it up with my free hand. "I know what you are. Silly me, took me long enough. Only a hunter would be able to shoot like that. Well, isn't this a treat. A new species." I looked down at the tip of my boot, that now had a scratch at the top of my boot "Pity, I just bought these. I'm a sucker for lace up boots. Down to business, why are you here?"

I then realized that I probably looked threatening. That wouldn't do. I did a bold thing to earn his trust, I dropped my gun. "There." I snorted "Happy?" I kicked it further out of the way. "I don't want to hurt you. There are people following you. Wanting to kill you. I know a safe place. My cabin. No one knows I live there. Even if they smell you, they wouldn't dare come near my cabin. I've booby trapped the whole place" I let a sly grin escape my lips

I admit, I felt bad for him. He must be scared, changing into a wolf. I knew he had to have some broken bones. Could that cut on his face be infected? If I can convince him I could only check it...

Okay, fine, I know I'm overreacting. That's one thing I hate about me, I often make myself silly with 'what if''s. I had to find out more about him, I just had to. Not so much to become a fantastic hunter, out of sheer curiosity. Like a child looking outside for the first time. He was... New. I needed a change. I reached into my first aid kit and pulled out disinfecting cream and a Spongebob band-aid. I tentatively extended them towards him