Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 6: 4

Aurora sat in the passenger seat of Stanton’s SUV as he drove her out of town. It was a twenty-minute drive. They blew through a small little community, and Aurora noticed the few people on the street were watching them drive by with amber eyes. Every one of them had amber eyes. Until a few days ago, she had believed she had unique eyes, and now she saw many others with the same trait. Were they all like her?

They left town quickly, but they didn’t go far, maybe a mile or two, and they pulled into a little mountain cabin. Stanton pulled into the driveway and put the SUV in park, then removed his keys. “Come on it,” he said, getting out of the vehicle.

Aurora followed, and as she headed for the door right behind Stanton, she noted that the cabin and the land it was on were surrounded by trees and completely blocked from the main road’s view. He opened the door, and Aurora followed Stanton inside. It was bigger than it looked from the outside. It was all one big open space with the exception of the washroom. There was a fireplace constructed of stone. It looked hand made not with those fake stone tiles either but real masonry stones. Around the fireplace were two long four-person couches facing each other with an old wooden coffee table between them cluttered with a tv remote and some men’s nudie magazines.

Stanton rushed over and snatched up the stack of porn and hit it behind his back as he walked toward the trash in the kitchen to throw them out. He was blushing. It was funny to see a man like him blush. “That’s nothing,” he said, tossing them into the bin and stuffing it under the sink and out of sight.

Aurora chuckled. She had a feeling looking the way he did that solo was probably the only loving he usually got. Maybe if a woman was really drunk, he might get lucky, but she couldn’t picture what kind of woman would want him sober. It was strange that he would be embarrassed about something sexual in front of a prostitute. Really, she was in absolutely no position to judge. On the opposite wall of the fireplace and still within view of the angled couches was a plasma TV.

There was a kitchenette just off the living space with a small wooden table and four chairs. The appliances were on the older side. There was a log wall between the kitchen and the large bed, which divided the bedroom space. It was a huge bed, even bigger than a king. It touched all three walls. She’d never seen one like it. It was wider and longer than normal beds. It had to be custom made, and given his size, she could understand why. She pictured him in a regular-sized bed and giggled to herself as she pictured his head cockeyed against the headboard and his big feet poking out of the bottom of his blanket while they hung over the footboard by a foot and a half.

There were shelves around the cabin with the typical male stuff. As well as two wooden sliding doors. One was most likely the washroom and the other probably a closet, but with both doors closed, there was no knowing which was which. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?” He offered.

She was hungry. She hadn’t eaten since she had seen him less. She hadn’t been working. She had needed some time to think and deal with the bomb he had dropped on her that day. So dirty, tired, and hungry, she nodded. “I would love something to eat.”

“I can cook you something, or I have cereal and milk.”

“Cereal will be fine,” she preferred something fast. Aurora took a seat on the couch while Stanton fixed them two bowls of Frootloops and brought her the other bowl. She thanked him as she accepted it, and then Stanton sat down on the couch across from hers. She found it odd that Stanton always gave her a lot of space. Most men were usually pawing her. “So, you said if I came home with you that you would show me what I am,” she prompted between bites.

“You are a Lycanthrope,” he told her and inhaled deeply, “Judging from the smell of you, I’d say you are a Bata,” she felt a little anxious. It had been a while since her last shower, but she had hoped he couldn’t smell her from across the room. “Don’t worry,” he said with that corner mouth twitch of amusement. “You don’t smell that bad,” she smiled; he had somehow read her mind. He took one more

bite and placed the still full bowl onto the coffee table. “Ok, let’s get down to it. You want to know what we are; Let's start with what you already know.”

Stanton held his hug, mitt out between them.

“Since you were raised by humans, no one taught you to control your powers. Just like a toddler has to be taught to read, Lycan children need to be taught control.

Aurora watched his hand as he was, and her eyes widened with awe as his fingers grew longer and became like claws. “Holy hell,” Aurora muttered as she watched it change back to a normal hand. Stanton lowered his hands and drew her attention to his face. Aurora stared into Stanton’s eyes and was stunned when they began to glow. His face began to change shape, becoming monstrous. He snarled, and Aurora could see his fangs. Quickly his features were restored, and a man was looking back at her.

“I trust you can do that much,” she could but not a will as he had just done. She was convinced they were the same. She was… what did he call them again… Lycan? She was a Lycan. She didn’t think things could get any weirder. “You ready to see the full transformation?”

“There is more?” She asked, genuinely surprised.

“Oh yeah. That was just the transition phase.”

“Transition? Into what?” He stood up and pushed the couch he had been sitting out back a few feet, then his hands went to his zipper, and he proceeded to remove his jeans. “Oh!” She gasped, putting her bands up to stop him. “You said no funny business,” she snapped in anger.

He laughed again, or at least she hoped that rumble in his chest was laughter and not some growl, really, she couldn’t tell. “I promise I’m not going to jump you. It’s just that the change can really fuck up my clothes, so unless I have a few hundred to replace my wardrobe, the clothes have to come off. I’m

not making a pass at you, I promise,” then he laughed again. “I would think you were comfortable with nudity. Trust me, no Lycan in existence has ever been a prude when it came to nudity in front of others.”

Aurora sat back, willing to allow it to go a little further if it would answer her questions. She watched as Stanton kicked off his boots. He yanked off his shirt and then shed his jeans. A little smirk curved her lips, actually with all those work clothes out of the way, Stanton had a pretty awesome body. He was all ripped muscle. He had one of those bodies you found on statues of Greek Gods. From the neck down, Stanton was pretty impressive.

His hands pushed his boxer-briefs down his powerful legs and stepped out of them. Aurora sat up a little taller. Yes, he was defiantly extremely impressive. He didn’t seem the least bit bashful about it. She heard him clear his throat, and Aurora turned her head up to look him in the face. Now that evil look on his face was defiantly a smile. “My eyes are up here, Hummingbird,” now Aurora was blushing. “Ok, I hope you are ready for this.”

His eye lit up once more, and Aurora watched as his jones and joints popped and snapped as he quickly became something monstrous, then he dropped down on all fours and let out a blood curtailing growl as his face elongated into a snout. A thick reddish-brown fur began to form over his skin. That is when something amazing happened, and the monster softly faded into a majestic giant wolf sat down where the man had been but moments ago. He was different from typical wolves. He was much bigger. He had to be six feet from nose to tail, and he stood four feet from floor to shoulder. Then there were the eyes. The amber eyes were the only thing that had not changed. She could see the soul of a man behind the eyes of a beast.

Aurora walked over and ran her fingers through its fur to be sure it was real. It certainly felt real. “This is… I’m… speechless,” she looked into the animal’s eyes. “Can you understand me?” The wolf said nothing, but the look in its eyes told her it did. Aurora backed up as its eyes lit up once more, and he

quickly reverted back to his human form. Stanton picked up his shorts and pulled them on. “Wow. I can do that?” She asked.

“You are a fully developed adult, so I’m sure you can. You just got to learn how. I can teach you.”

“I have so many questions.”

“I’d be happy to answer them,” he said, putting his jeans back on. He pulled the couch back and sat down. Picking up his bowl, he lifted the spoon to his mouth. “First question?”

“So, are you saying that I can do what you just did?” She asked, eagerly shifting to the edge of her seat.

“Yes. Once you learn to control it, it’s one of our many powers.”

“Many? What are the others?”

“Well, essentially, we are part animal. So, we have some animal attributes. For example, our senses are heightened well beyond human standards. I’m sure you must have noticed that you can see in the dark, hear things far away, smell things others can’t,” she had noticed that, but she had never considered it anything but normal. “We are also extremely strong and fast. When we are in wolf form, we can keep pace with a car going fifty miles an hour. Our endurances and stamina are unprecedented. Have you ever noticed you have never been sick a day in your life?”

Actually, she had never thought about it, but Stanton was right. She had never been ill, not even mild nasal congestion from seasonal allergies.

“Also, you heal quickly. Like ridiculously quickly. Bruises and minor cuts healed in seconds. You see, our cells divide and reproduce at an exponential rate, which gives us the ability to regenerate and repair our wounds quickly. More severe wounds might take a little longer, a few hours, maybe a day.”

“Are you saying we can’t die?”

“Oh, God, no, we most certainly die. It’s just not that easy to kill us. We also have an amazingly fast metabolism. We can eat everything in sight, but you will never see a fat Lycan.”

Aurora sat back as she thought. “So, if we are werewolves….”

“Lycans,” he corrected her.

“Right, how much of what we see in movies is true?”

“The part where we turn into wolves and pretty much nothing else.”

“So, silver won’t hurt us.”

“Nope.”

“So, no silver bullets?”

“Bullet to the chest, we’ll be fine, a bullet to the head, and we are dead.”

“I thought werewolves… sorry, Lycans could only change into mindless monsters during a full moon.”

“That was never true. First of all, we never become mindless monsters. Second, while we do get a little riled up around a full moon, we don’t necessarily lose control. We can change or not change at will. We don’t run around killing people, but we are not above killing people. See, Lycan hunters have been tracking and killing our kind for all of history. Because of that, we are almost extinct. So, when a hunter threatens the safety of the pack, we will end them without a second thought. At the end of the day, when it comes down to them or us, you better believe I’m going to put them in the ground. That’s just self-preservation.”

How did we become this, were you bitten? Was I bitten as a child?” She couldn’t remember being bitten.

“No, we are not bitten. That’s not how it works.”

“How does it work?”

“We are born, just like everybody else. You can’t become a Lycan, you either are, or you aren’t.”

Every answer he gave her just raised more questions. “How come there are no records of us in history besides Hollywood movies and comic books?”

“But there is,” Stanton told her. “Our kind goes back as far as the prehistoric eras. They have skeletons in museums. The humans call them dire wolves because they have no idea what they really were. Granted, back then, things were a little different, but just like humans and Neanderthals, we evolved and changed with the times.

“Dire wolves went extinct over 10 000 years ago.”

“No, we didn’t. We just evolved.”

Everything he was telling her was insane, but in an odd way, it explained so much. Her life actually made sense thanks to his explanation. “So, you can teach me to change as you did?”

“Usually, Lycan’s learn to do that very young but given you had no one to teach you, yeah, I could help you learn. You know if you like, you can stay here,” she looked at him suspiciously. “No strings attached. I know you have nowhere to stay. I have a couch, a shower, food. You are welcome to stay for as long as you need.”

Aurora thought about it. A roof over her head, a hot shower, and free food; she could go for that. It just left her with one question. “And what do I have to do for this room and board?”

He was quiet for a moment as he looked around the house. “Well, if you want to tidy up or make a meal, that would be nice.”

Aurora looked around. The place was already fairly clean; it wouldn’t take much to tidy up a bit. “That’s it?” He nodded. “You don’t want anything else?”

“I just want to help you.”

“Why?”

“As I said, there are so few of us left, we have to have each other’s backs, or we will cease to exist.”

Aurora put her now empty bowl on the coffee table. “May I have a shower?”

Stanton stared at her for a moment and then stood up. “Sure, I’ll get you a towel,” Aurora stood up and collected her bag, which she had left by the door when she came in. She followed him to the washroom door. He opened the closet and took down a towel, and handed it to her. “Take as much time as you want,” Aurora accepted the towel and went into the washroom. She paused as she was shutting the door. “If you like, I could wash your clothes,” Stanton offered.

Aurora smiled and closed the door. She placed her bag on the counter and stripped her clothes off. She wrapped the towel around herself. The towel was huge. She collected her clothes and reopened the door to find Stanton still standing there. She handed him her dirty clothes, and his mouth did that not smiling twitch that she was sure was his way of expressing joy and amusement. Then he walked away, and she shut the door.

Aurora spent the next thirty minutes standing under the hot water as the room filled with steam. She cleaned herself and then just enjoyed the feeling of being clean. When the water started to turn cold, she got out and towelled off. She got dressed and cleaned up her mess, then rejoined Stanton in the main living space. He was sitting on a couch, flipping through the channels on his TV. Aurora took a seat on the other couch and tucked her feet up on the cushions next to her.

She watched the TV, and for the first time in a long time, she felt safe and content, and her exhaustion caught up with her. Her eyelids became heavy, and her head began to droop until it laid on the arm of the couch, and before long, she had succumbed to much-needed sleep.

***

Stanton looked across the coffee table at the beautiful young woman passed out on the other couch. He felt bad for her. Her life must have been so hard alone in the hostile world, not knowing what she was.

He stood up from his spot on the couch and walked over to the couch. He leaned over and slipped one arm under her legs and shoulders and lifted Aurora from her place on the couch. She must have been dead to the world because she didn’t even stir. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down. Then he pulled a blanket up around her. He would let her sleep, and he would sleep on the couch.