A lonely wind whistled through the cobble-stoned streets of a little village looking out over a dark wood. It swirled through their branches and made them sway like dancing wraiths. To the ordinary eye it would have looked beautiful, but the local residents knew that a great battle was fought there and believed that ghosts still hung to leaves like leaches. No one was ever out at this time of night for they thought that ghouls prowled the streets at night, looking for innocent victims. But tonight a lone figure stood about twenty feet from the forest. Locals had seen him around and they thought nothing of it, there were many strangers coming through their village. Only, this stranger was far more important than any that had ever came through before.
As he waited the man shivered against the wind and pulled his hood farther over his face. He couldn’t wait to be over with this mission. He had grown up in this village and, even though he knew that they weren’t true, he kept remembering the stories of ghouls waiting to suck out your soul. He shivered again, but not from the cold.
From somewhere in the forest a twig cracked and the man stiffened, he had been thinking of a particular gruesome ghoul that tortured its victims before eating them alive. From behind an oak tree came a hiss and the man knew it was time.
”Did you bring it?” came a cold voice. The man reached into his pocket and stretched his arm out to where he suspected the voice came from. When the arm of the thing came into his view he had to hold back a gasp as he saw the pale skin and knew what this creature was.
”Do you have the information?” the man asked. He heard a low chuckle and saw the pale skin again as the creature handed him an envelope sealed with candle wax.
”Have a splendid time.” And with a swish of a cloak the dreadful thing was gone. The man shivered again and suddenly he bent over to the ground and from his cloak stepped a black wolf. Now in this form he could sense the creature’s presence even greater and had to restrain himself from hunting it down. He threw back his head and let out a piercing howl though the night, sending a message to all other werewolves that he was a friend. Then he slipped back into the shadows of the forest and was gone.
  
Oliver sat in the backseat of his brothers worn out SUV. As he looked from the car’s window he felt a sudden case of homesickness. He wished that Chris would slow down, but you couldn’t get him to do that even if an atomic bomb took out the road ahead. He had been very eager to get Oliver away from their cozy New York home ever since their parent’s car crash, which left them both dead. Chris said that there were too many reminders of them there. Oliver didn’t know what the big deal was about it, but he guessed that it was hard for Chris to stay there. So about a month after their deaths Chris was online searching for a house in the country. Oliver didn’t know anything about the house except what Chris had told him about it. At the time, though, Oliver hadn’t cared because he thought there was no way that Chris would go through with it. The only things he knew was that it was big, old, and cost next to nothing.
As they pulled into the driveway he saw exactly why it had cost nothing. It was falling apart. The roof was falling in and there were holes in the walls. It did have a beauty about it though. It was an old, Victorian style house; there were a lot of big windows and two towers. Even at the same time it had a there’s-a-monster-around-every-corner-vampires-sucking-your-blood mansiony look. The porch was the worst though, the roof has caved in and many of the floorboards were missing.
”Um, do you think its safe to even breath on it?” Oliver asked, realizing the house looked slightly tilted.
”Sure there might be holes in the roof and termites in the walls, but it’s the safest house around here for a two mile radius” Chris smiled when he looked at his brother’s shocked face. The guy actually thought this thing was safe?
”That’s because there aren’t any other houses in that radius.” Oliver mumbled, Chris pretended not to hear and got out. As he went to the back of the car and got his bed stuff, Oliver hoped that he was right and got out to get his things also. Ever since Chris had mentioned moving he couldn’t stop thinking about their mom and dad. Would they have wanted to join up to Chris’ new ‘adventure’? Suddenly he wondered if Chris was planning on fixing this place up and ran inside to unpack his things.                                                                                


The next morning Oliver woke up exhausted. At first he couldn’t go to sleep then, when he finally achieved that momentous goal, he kept having nightmares. They all started with him standing in his new front yard. He would be looking for something and his search would lead him into the dark forest and he would become lost. From the depths of the darkness came monsters; wolves, vampires, and an assortment of other vile creatures that he had no name for. Almost every time he would wake with a start and in a cold sweat.
He got dressed and headed downstairs. As he got to the top of the stairs, though, he thought he heard something. It was an eerie sound, like a wail of a ghost. As he listened it got louder and louder until it sounded like it was right outside.
”Good morning! Have a nice night?” Oliver almost went tumbling down the stairs as Chris’ cheerful hello jolted him back to reality. It was a good thing Chris hadn’t noticed that he had jumped a mile as he walked by and down the stairs, ”Breakfast is waiting.” Chris said as he disappeared into the kitchen. Oliver sighed and slowly made his way down the stairs. What had that noise been? It had sounded like it was coming from far off, but at the same time it was loud. It also had a haunted sort of thing to it, like what ever made it was calling to someone. As he munched cornflakes and burnt toast that was all he could think about.
By mid-afternoon Oliver had completely forgotten the noise and was exploring the trees and bushes of the surrounding woods. He had found at least seven birds nests and saw a snake sunning on a rock. He had tried to catch it but the snake was way too fast to follow. After that he tracked the prints of a deer and saw that there were dog prints following it too and wondered if the animal had chased the deer. So he kept following until a fence barred the way. When he looked up he realized that it was getting dark. He started back and all the while it got darker and darker. Oliver began to remember his dreams and started to jog through the trees. He wasn’t sure how close he was getting to home, but he sped up when he thought he heard a bush rustling. As he looked in front of him he saw a shape dart through the trees in front of him. Oliver stopped dead in his tracks, it was a big shape and he had not just imagined it. He stood there waiting for something that would tell him that it was harmless. But the growl from behind told him otherwise. Oliver sprinted through the trees. Branches whipped his face and vines and roots tripped him, but he got back up and ran on. He jumped over bushes and weaved through the trees but no matter how fast he went he could hear a low panting following him. Finally he saw a light through the trees but as soon as he could glimpse his house, something hit him in the side and knocked him over. What ever it was it landed on top of him and his breath went out in a whoosh. Oliver struggled against the thing, but it was wrapped tightly around him. He could hear breathing in his ear and he started punching and kicking wherever he could reach on his attacker.
A low chuckle came from above and Oliver stopped struggling, he was too scared to move. He barely had no strength left. From his left he heard footsteps running towards him. Then as the runner got right next to Oliver he heard a snarl and the weight that he had been struggling against was gone. He sat up; he could hear the snarls of a fighting dog. Oliver spent no time waiting to thank his rescuer. He sprang up and sprinted once more towards his house. As he cleared the trees he felt safe and slowed down a bit. Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle and he fell once more to the leafy ground. Oliver kicked and pulled but the thing wouldn’t let go. But just as he was giving up, Oliver heard a thump and he was released. He got back up and didn’t stop until he was safely inside.
Oliver stood by the door and tried to catch his breath. What could have been out there? What had attacked him? And had his rescuer been a dog? Oliver was freaked out but he didn’t want Chris to know what had happened so he took a deep breath and went to the living room where Chris was watching the twilight zone, his favorite. Oliver just sat there replaying the chase over and over in his head.

In the morning Oliver was feeling much happier. He had convinced himself that he had imagined something chasing him and tackling him, that it had just been a branch. His rescuer had not even been there at all either and he was just hearing the wind.
Chris was taking Oliver to town today and enrolling him in the local high school. As they sped through the back roads and even as they went through the small town Oliver wondered what kind of people lived there and who would be his friends and if there were any pretty girls he could flirt with.
As they walked in Oliver noticed how small it really was. At his old school he was sure that he hadn’t explored at least a forth of the building in his two and a half years there. Here, though, you could walk from one end of the main hall to the other and see all the classrooms. To the left of the main doors were bathrooms on the end of the main hall and there were two halls that split from the main hall. To his right there was the office and after that there was the principal’s offices. Across the hall from the main doors were two big doors, probably leading to an auditorium or something. Next to that were two more doors, through which Oliver could see boys running around in, so it was probably a gym. At the other end of the hallway another hallway went to the left and on the right of that was a cafeteria. Chris led him into an office that was very decorative. The walls were red and the desks were made of some sort of red wood that matched. There were secretaries there who both smiled when they walked in. The front secretary asked what they needed and Chris told them that he wanted to enroll Chris. The woman gave him some papers, which he filled out sitting on a bench. Oliver stood watching as Chris filled in his birth date which Oliver had always thought funny; the first of September, 91. So put together it would be 9/1/91.
As they left and started the almost half hour ride home Oliver thought he heard something. It was low and soft at first but as they neared the house it got louder. It was the same noise he had heard the day before only it sounded more urgent. As Oliver listened he felt almost hypnotized. He could feel a strange tingling all over his body and even though the noise was strange, it seemed familiar. He couldn’t focus on anything but the noise; it came to a point when all he wanted to do was search even to the ends of the Earth to find its source. He became so transfixed that he couldn’t even remember life without the sound, like it was all that existed. Oliver didn’t even notice that they were home and Chris had just asked him if he wanted spaghetti for dinner. Oliver just kept listening not caring if he ever woke up from the noise.
Chris waved his hand in front of Oliver and he didn’t even blink. He snapped his fingers and clapped his hands but he just wouldn’t quit staring. Finally Chris was tired of this game and shouted,” Do you want spaghetti or not then!?”
Oliver jumped and looked as if he had never met Chris in his life and was wondering if he should be freaked out that he was in some stranger’s car. Then he remembered Chris asking about spaghetti and nodded.
”What was all that about?” Chris asked recovering a little from his almost panic.
”Just daydreaming.” Oliver said and he tried to convince himself that that was all it had been. But he kept thinking about it all night and for the rest of the week. Oliver didn’t hear the noise since, but he whished to be lost in it again. At times he thought of the noise as a figment of his imagination and other times he wanted to hear the haunting sound so badly he became almost violent, the good thing was that he was never like that in front of Chris. Through Chris did sense that something was different than before. He just gave the explanation to puberty.
On Sunday night Oliver was sleeping and was having a nightmare once again. He was standing in the middle of a dark forest and there were howling wolves all around but he couldn’t see them. They would growl and howl and it seemed that they were trying to talk to him and at times they sounded almost human. He would try to find them but they were never in one spot for long and each time one would howl Oliver would run to the sound but nothing would be there. Oliver had had that dream every night since he became obsessed with the noise, except this time he didn’t wake up when he usually did. His search for the wolves became frantic and finally he fell down in the middle of the trees and howled long and loud. It was the same noise he had heard the other day. He kept howling until he ran out of breath and woke with a start.
Oliver lay in his bed panting with the panic of the dream. He kept replaying it over and over in his head, how desperate he had been to find the wolves and his frustrated howl that was the noise he was obsessed with. Oliver kept panting and the heat seemed to be overwhelming him. He tried to push off his covers but he couldn’t reach his back. He brought up his hand and started when he found that it wasn’t his hand but a tan paw. He tried to jump up, but he was tangled in his cover and fell over the side of his bed and struggled to be free of it. He tried to grunt with the effort but it came out as growls and whines. That scared him even more and he struggled harder.
Then, when he was almost in a panic he heard a growl from his door way. Oliver craned his neck backwards to see what it came from. In the doorway, moonlight shining on its pelt, stood a black wolf. Oliver was terrified at this point. Not only was he somehow a wolf, now there was one standing in his doorway. Was it going to attack him or had it been his rescuer that night in the woods? Oliver began to growl, at least he could sound menacing as he died. The wolf walked over to him and started to sniff at the blankets. Oliver growled louder and was ready to attack if necessary.
”Shut up, you are lucky that you didn’t wake up your brother up with your silly thrashing, now your going to risk fighting me?” Oliver was so surprised at the wolf that he almost stopped breathing, ”Now stay still while I untangle you. If you hadn’t squirmed around like that in the beginning this would be easier.”
Oliver didn’t know what else to do so he just stayed still until the blanket had been untangled. Then the wolf started for the doorway. Oliver didn’t know if he should follow, then the wolf turned back and looked at him. Oliver understood and jumped up to follow. It was strange and frightening to be a wolf and even more weird to be following the black wolf, but Oliver knew that if he wanted answers to why he was like this then he needed to follow and wait for them. They walked past Chris’ bedroom, Oliver wanted to go in there and tell Chris what was happening, but when he stopped the wolf growled quietly and kept walking. They went through an opened front door and quickly walked into the woods. When they entered the trees the black wolf picked up the pace. They ran through bushes and sprang over logs and rocks. Even though this would freak any normal person out to be turned into a wolf and follow a strange creature into a dark forest, it seemed right to Oliver to be leaping through undergrowth.
As they neared the fence that had stopped Oliver on his previous trek into the woods, the wolf stopped and whined softly. The bushes surrounding them rustled and six more wolves stepped from the shadows. They all went to the black wolf and started whining and licking his muzzle and wagging their tails. Oliver watched, amazed that the wolves acted the way the wolves he had seen on TV had acted. As he watched he saw the differences of the wolves.  One was black like the one who led him here, but there were white flakes all through out his fur. One was a beautiful flame color and she seemed to be very confident. Another female came into view and she was a slate grey with bright green eyes. Then a very peculiar wolf looked at him. She was smaller than the other wolves but what was most interesting was that he coat looked pink. She seemed to smile at him and turned to a white wolf with very bright blue eyes.
They trotted over to him and stood looking.
”Hello, my name is Cassie.” They one with pink fur announced, ”And this is Marie.” She said looking at the white wolf.
”I’m Emma” Oliver jumped and looked to where the voice came from and saw the flame colored wolf. She made a weird gurgling sound and Oliver realized that she was laughing at him. He was almost offended, he couldn’t help that this experience made him just a bit jumpy. The other wolves introduced themselves one at a time. The black wolf with the white in his fur was the oldest and his name was Andrew, the black one who led him here was Iggy and they grey wolf was Maggie. Then they stood and looked expectantly at Oliver
”Um, my name is Oliver Noble.” He said hesitantly. They nodded and started walking away, “Hey! Where are you going?” Oliver said.
The flame colored wolf, Emma, stopped, “We’re going home.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Oliver asked.
“Well, what do you think? Come with us.” She replied.
“No, hold on! Do you guys seriously think that you can just whisk me away from home, and not even explain why I suddenly turned into a wolf!?” Oliver was shocked that they weren’t even going to tell him at least that.
“ What do you think the reason you turned into a wolf is?” She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. Oliver didn’t know what to say, was he supposed to know the reason?
“You are a werewolf.” She said simply when he didn’t answer. Oliver stood there, then there were really these things? Had this been born in him or did he have to be bitten? That explained the dreams, but what of the noise?
“I heard a noise, it was a constant note and it became obsessed with it, then I started having dreams about trying to find wolves, what was the noise?” Oliver asked.
“The noise was your first howl.” The answer came from The black wolf, Iggy, “Every werewolf grows increasingly obsessed with it near his first changing.” He explained. Oliver thought about it and it made a little sense, but what about that night in the woods?
“The second night I was in this house I went into the woods and I lost track of time when it got dark I heard something following me. Then I just got tackled and something knocked the thing off me, was that one of you?” Oliver asked. The older wolf nodded,
“The thing that attacked you was a vampire, and I protected you from it.” The old wolf went on, “They are our greatest enemies, but it wasn’t always so. Thousands of years ago werewolves and vampires were the greatest of friends. Our kings and queens held balls and feasted with each other, but a vampire prince was born on September 1st 1591. He was evil; he loathed his parents and his siblings. He believed in only one thing, violence. He would torture the animals of the palace. His parents thought it to be just because he was young and insisted it would go away. Only then his brothers and sisters would come to them with horrible wounds, but they didn’t believe that their youngest son could have done these things. They also knew that their other children were very jealous of the prince, for he was the most handsome vampire in all the land. The other children didn’t envy, they despised him. He was mean to everyone and he hated to do anything but sit in his room and cast unmentionable spells. The parents were getting old and they loved their son so much that they promised him their crown when they died (yes vampires one day die) and he brewed a poison he could slip into their drink. But the oldest son, who was noble and courageous and the rightful heir to the throne knew what he was going to do and told his parents his brother’s plan. They cursed him and had him banished because of his accusations. He traveled to the werewolf kingdom to warn of his brother. They believed the son and sent an ambassador to the vampire king and queen. By now their health was very bad and they couldn’t get out of bed. When the ambassador told them of what their son had done, they got angry with him and called for their beloved son in to disclaim these false accusations. But what they heard was the truth, that he had always hated them and that he had tortured his siblings and that he had been slipping poison into their drinks and they were too far gone to stop his reign. They could not believe they had not listened to their other children when they had told them of his crimes. Then, not wanting his reputation to be hurt, he cast a spell that killed everyone that had heard him confess and ran to the guards telling them that a werewolf sorcerer had killed the king and queen. The next day they were buried and the son was crowned. The very first thing he did was decree war upon the werewolves. The werewolves who were angered at this announced war upon the vampires. Ever since there has been hostility between the two races and a constant and devastating war.” When he finished Oliver didn’t know if he could take all of this in. All these new things, he could accept being a werewolf. He has always dreamed of being an imaginary, in this case not so imaginary, creature. Then a war and vampires and spells, it was a lot to take in.
“So, where do I come in?” Oliver asked.
“A couple centuries ago some vampires and werewolves got tired of the fighting and formed a group, The Brotherhood of Claw. They started peace organizations but when that didn’t work,” Emma said. “They turned to their Gods to give them guidance. A priest from a far away monastery came to them with the prophecy of old. It stated that a group of werewolves that have the powers to defeat the war will come and the brotherhood must accept them to end the fighting.” When she finished Oliver cocked his head to the side. He didn’t have any special powers.
“And you think that I have powers?” Oliver asked.
“Think?” Iggy laughed, “We know.” Oliver didn’t believe him, but decided that he didn’t want to argue.
“Where are you taking me to?” Oliver saw that the wolves were getting restless and wanted to get to the point.
“We are going to the Brotherhood headquarters in Salem.” Andrew said. Oliver suddenly thought of Chris and didn’t want to leave him alone.
“How can you expect me to leave my brother to go fight a fairytale war and go without a fuss?” Oliver said, worried that he wouldn’t get to go home at least once before he left. The wolves looked annoyed at the delay but Iggy came forward and nodded.
Running back to his house Oliver felt free. He could run faster than ever before. He could jump much higher and he felt and energy that he had never had. When they got there Oliver led the way to Chris’ room and stood, how could he write? Then he heard the footsteps of a human and a tall black haired man stepped forward. He searched Chris’ bedside table and found a pen and pencil. He stood waiting and Oliver told him to write a note that, when finished, said:


Chris, I’m sorry that I have to leave you so soon after mom and dad died, but I’ve learned something in the past hours that I have to go, It is a worthy cause and maybe someday we will see each other again, but for now, I love you and hope that you wait for me to come back.
- Oliver
Then Andrew changed back into a wolf (which was very eerie to watch) and they headed for the stairs. Oliver suddenly stopped; he went back to Chris and licked his face. Chris stirred but didn’t wake up. Oliver licked him again and his eyes opened. He looked at Oliver who simply looked back and whined softly, then he rolled over and went back to sleep. Oliver, satisfied, ran down the stairs and into the woods after the other wolves.