WOLF - pt.21
#21 of WOLF
Part 21...you know the drill. Much love~
Hal left without looking back. I had melted back to my human form. I stripped the bottoms from around my ankles and stood beneath the hot water as it rained down over me. The SD's symptoms had faded, leaving behind a very conscious, very sane werewolf.
The tears had stopped. I was alone and that was fine. I touched my hands to the tiled walls in front of me and let the hot water washed over me. Let it wash me clean, while I let my thoughts dull and fade. For the second time in two days I had scrubbed myself raw and fought nausea, as it bubbled just beneath the surface.
I felt dizzy and numb. Something felt...wrong.
Had it been the transformations? Too many in too close a space of time? Ten minutes had seperated the two. My body was exhausted, broken down.
I could feel myself going light-headed.
I suddenly collapsed to the floor and huddled against the wall. I touched my forehead to the cool tile. Slow, deep breaths escaped me as I focused on one point on the floor, trying to eradicate the dizziness. I willed the nausea down. I felt the wolf inside me slumped, looking around, its movements sluggish and slow. It felt like we were both drunk, incapacitated by what had happened in the space of a few hours.
What was happening?
I didn't like that I didn't know what was wrong. It made me tremble, tremble and shake with fear and panic.
"Two transformations in one day. Not to mention facing down the first phase of your Initiation. I'm surprised your still conscious considering Hal Erich's rough nature, Jack."
I wheeled round and wished I hadn't. I slumped to my backside, and clasped a hand over my eyes, shielding myself from the dizziness. I glimpsed between my fingers and made out the black-on-black werewolf, Luis. He was dressed in the same attire. The shades nowhere to be seen. He watched me with uncertain eyes, as I tried to force the dizziness away.
There was something different about Luis though.
My vision cleared a little and my sense of smell picked up two things over the soap and the water; Isaiah's reptilian scent and blood.
I saw Luis clear and crisp now. Rage pumped through my veins, fought back the sickness, but didn't bolster my strengths. I glared at Luis and saw he was spattered with blood. Not alot of blood, but still, it was blood.
It made me anxious.
"You need rest. Luis has promised not to send anymore of the Elite after you for a couple of days. He thinks you need time to recooperate," the blood-spattered werewolf explained.
"Bull...shit..."
"What?"
"Linus' promises are worth shit to me. Now what did you do with Isaiah?" I growled.
Luis blinked and then looked down at the blood like it had just appeared. "I really made a mess, huh?" he replied casually.
"What...did...you...do...to...Isaiah!" I yelled.
Luis frowned. His voice came calm, but stern, "I followed orders."
"You...did what?" I panted. Tears welled in my eyes again.
Isaiah had revealed a big secret about himself and the werecrocodiles in order to help me maintain control over my beast. Juliet and Romeo had said they'd have to inform Linus and then the bastard snake had taken Isaiah from me. Now Isaiah had paid the price? I couldn't accept that. I wouldn't accept that!
"If you've harmed him-"
"You'll do what?" Luis challenged.
Rage bubbled inside me, fought the numbness and spilled out of my mouth in an unrecogniseable howl. I raised my clenched fist and smashed it down into the floor. The ground buckled, the tiles shattered with the sheer force of my agonising fury.
"He had better be alive," I warned in a low growl.
"I've been ordered to make sure you get back to your bed safely," Luis replied solumnly.
I tried to stand, tried to and failed. My knees wouldn't work. My muscles twitched and trembled. I wasn't up for walking yet. I sank back against the wall. Hot water rained down over my naked body as I drew my knees to my chest and hugged them to my body.
What power had I gained? What strength had I secured? I couldn't even stand after an SD induced period of time.
My shoulders shook as I let the sadness, the tears, the crushing weight of depression press down on me. I cried out and screamed my rage. I should have hated Linus. I should have hated Luis for making Isaiah bleed. I should have hated Lian for being so damn kind and still being fated as one of the Elite sent to mentally and physically abuse me. I should have hated Miles for not killing Linus when he had the chance all those months prior to my arrival. I should have hated Hal for sexually assaulting me. So much hatred to latch onto, such rage to burn up and use to sear through my soul and feed to this damned sadness.
None of it mattered. All that mattered was my own self-doubt. The one I hated most right now was me.
The power I had gained from bonding with my inner beast was nothing compared to the strength that Linus and his followers wielded.
I cried, I wailed until the tears dried up and stopped. I felt someone standing over me. I opened my eyes and looked up. Luis stood there, still blood spattered and holding a towel in his hands. He stood just out of reach of the water as he crouched down.
I reached up behind me and pressed the pad that shut off the water. I was suddenly chilled, cold even, so cold that my teeth chattered through the lack of heat.
"SD delirium. That's what you have right now," Luis explained as he handed me the towel. "Too many hits of SD in such a short space of time, coupled with the multiple transformations has mangled your body's recovery system. Rest up and the delirium will disperse and you'll be fine."
I never looked at the bloodied werewolf as I huddled against the wall with the towel wrapped around me.
"You smell of wolf. Nothing more. Not sex, not Hal. Just wolf," he explained.
That earned him a small smile from me.
"I'll send someone to come and take you back to your dorm room. Someone you...trust." Did Luis actually look hurt? Had I hurt his feelings when I refused his help? I didn't care, truth be told. He'd harmed Isaiah. I had become friends with a small handful of victims like me. They mattered to me now and I hated those who'd harmed them.
Yet another act of kindness from this particular werewolf and I ignored him. I didn't need this right now.
He crossed the shower block and stopped at the doors. He did say one thing before he left me alone. "Linus asked the werecroc about the transformation skills that the crocodiles have possessed. I beat him and he still never talked. He's alive...for now, at least."
Good, I thought. I needed someone to depend on at Haven. Isaiah fit those requirements perfectly. So much so that even in the depths of despair I smiled at the thought of him.
I just hoped he was in one piece when I found him.