I felt myself running in the darkness of the night, nothing lighting the world but the fullness of the moon and stars above. I was running though a dense green forest, trees and shrubs were blurs as I passed. The mossy, damp ground made no audible noise under my feet. The air was clean and clear of human interferences. I smelled every creature hiding from my presence; there was a doe and her fawn in the bushes to my right, an owl perched in a tree waiting for the sound of a mouse's scurry. I heard a bat's wings flapping above as it looked for insects to feast upon. I heard four soft thuds on the mossy ground.

They seem to be running, they seem to be following me. The four footfalls, I realized, were mine. I was running on four legs instead of my usual two. I stammered to a stop and looked down at myself. I had large fur-covered paws instead of hands and feet. I looked behind myself and found a bushy slightly-curled tail. I have to see myself, I thought.I could smell water somewhere off to my left and I ran for it. I slowed to walk as I approached the edge of the forest. I stop before I emerged from my cover of greenery. I sniffed the wind and looked around to detect a threat. Finding none, I advanced to the water, which was a lake. It surface was as smooth as glass and mirrored the moon perfectly. No human foot has ever fallen upon this land or breathed this clean air.

I stood on the bank and peered into the reflection in the mirror-like water. I expected to see a lovely, feminine, human face; my face. A face with smooth tanned skin, full pink lips, brilliant azure eyes, and wavy, golden blonde hair which draped down my back. In its stead were the same eyes that were embedded in a wolfish face covered in golden blonde fur. At first, I felt nervous and confused; however, the more I looked at the wolf in the reflection the more it felt like a part of me. Like it was inside of me, something that had been sleeping for far too long and now had been awoken with a carnal hunger to escape.

I looked in to those azure eyes that were mine and now belonged to a wolf, the wolf which is inside of me. I released my stare from the eyes in the water and gazed to the moon. It was so full and so bright; I had to squint a little, it was like looking at the sun. I heard a howl far in the distance. I felt the need to answer the call. I sat back on my wolfish hunches and tilted my canine nose to the moon. The rumbling come from deep somewhere in me and fought up my throat and tore from my mouth. The howl was a long, eerie sound and it rang in my sensitive ears. Everything in the forest went instantly in to silence. I looked at the moon it seemed to get more intense and vivid and it kept getting brighter. I had to shut my eyes from it, but I could still see the moon's light...

I opened my eyes again, but to find myself in my bedroom. It was still the middle of the night and the glowing orb had moved from my view, but the moon's light still streamed in. What? It was a dream, though it had seemed so real. I could still feel the moss under my feet and the smell of the forest lingered in my nose. Had I really been dreaming? I sat up, swung my legs over the edge of my bed and stared out my window. Two specks of glowing yellow light greeted me and they flickered in and out of the trees. I followed the two beams with my eyes until they stop; they seemed to be staring towards at me. I felt drawn to them; I longed to go to them. I stood up and walked effortlessly through the dark to the balcony outside my window.

I was welcomed by the moon's bright light and the musty scent of the forest. I was two floors up and had no ladder or stairs to get to the ground. Without thinking I leaped over the railing. I landed perfectly on my feet in a crouch. The leap would have killed any other person. I straighten and walked slowly to the edge of the trees. The grass was covered in dew and it felt like heaven under my bare feet. The cool breeze chilled my suddenly heated blood.

The yellowish beams followed my movement across the lawn, never wavering in the shadows of the woods. When I was in reach of the forest I was affronted by a growl. I stopped. The glowing entities moved forward and the figure emerged from the shadows. It was a wolf. It was bigger than any wolf I have ever seen. His eyes were a golden-yellow and his dark solid brown fur rippled across his massive muscular lupine build. He smelled musty like the forest, a smooth natural odor of wolf, and a brackish scent of human. His scent filled my head and heated my blood. He growled to me again. I felt the need to be afraid, my mind screaming to me to run, but my body was planted in place, my feet did not respond. I did not run. The wolf stepped closer to me, and yet I did not run. I released the breath that I didn't even know I was holding.

His golden eyes turned from me and up to the sky. A low growl came from deep in his chest and tore from his throat as a howl. It was the same howl from my dream. I felt the same rumbling in my chest as in my dream and a howl ripped from my own human lips. My howl was louder and higher pitched, and it lasted longer than the wolf's deeper, reverberating howl. Our cries sliced the cool night air, mine slashing the air and his vibrating it.

Before my howl ended the wolf had disappeared. I wanted to be with him, to run with him. I never felt so alive before in my life. I had so much energy. I went to the spot were the wolf once stood. I looked down and saw exceptionally large paw prints. They prove that I'm not nuts, I thought. The tracks lead back into the darkness of the forest, his scent left a clear trail. I followed the trail until it ended in the middle of a small grassy clearing. Strange, I thought.

The moonlight seemed to grow brighter; I wrenched my head up to its intense fullness. I felt an itching sensation on my skin. I looked down at my hand and watched the hair as it grew longer. I franticly looked to my other hand. My fingers were shortening and my nails grew thinker and harder. Pain exploded in my legs, bringing me to my knees. The itching grew unbearable as the hair sprouted all over my body. I felt my muscles and bones twist and rearrange. My face stretched and pushed outward forming a muzzle and my ears shifted to the top of my warped head. My back bone extended painfully into a fully furred tail. I screamed and protested the agonizing pain as it racked my deformed body. I collapsed onto the ground, panting, my body pulsing and throbbing. Then my breath slowed and I fell into a deep sleep, drowning the pain in unconsciousness…

I awoke in the green clearing. The moon was no longer in sight. I sighed in relief, remembering to pain that the moonlight had brought. I then remembered what the pain had conveyed. I leap to my feet and circled around myself. I saw the long golden-blonde fur and a thick tail. I gasped in horror. It's all real, my dream, the moon, the wolf…werewolf. I realized that I was a werewolf—cursed, damned, half wolf and half human. No! I can't be. But it explains why I could see things and heard and smelled them before other people could, why I jumped from a two story building with ease, and why dogs always shied away from me. MY GOD! I'm werewolf!

I sat back and tried to rationalize. I had two choices: I could accept the fact that I am a… that I am what I am, or I could end the curse by any means necessary. I sat there for a long time, not moving, just thinking. The night grew cold and I could see my breath on the think forest air. There was a flash of movement near the edge of the forest. My wolf body jerked forward, but my human mind said "stay." I watch the little blur move back and forth along the edge of the trees. The wind blew into my face revealing the scent of a rabbit. Instinct took hold of my mind and body and I followed the scent. The rabbit ran from me and hid in a thicket as I approached it. I circled the thicket a couple times to try and frighten the rabbit out. It failed to spook the little hare, so I growled to make the rabbit run and it tore from its hiding place. My legs were already running before I told them to. I chased the rabbit as it zigzagged through the brush. I could have caught it a lot sooner but I was enjoying the pursuit. I ended the hunt with one bust of speed and a quick, deadly pounce. The rabbit struggled and screamed in the tight clamp of my jaws. The blood dripped onto my tongue making it tingle with pleasure. My teeth tore into the fragile flesh of the rabbit. I devoured the rabbit in a few minutes and I rested on the soft ground at the base of a tree.

I was fed and rested and I needed to run again. I started at an easy walk, then into a lope. Then without exhaustion, I ran for miles. I ran where ever my feet took me. I was running faster than any animal in the woods could and I could run farther, too. Then I got an eerie feeling that I was being followed. I slowed to a trot and pretended to follow a scent trial that led off to the right, hoping I could catch a glimpse of my follower. My follower was crafty and ducked out of sight as I turned to look. So I trotted a little faster, keeping ears and nose on my pursuer.

I came to the edge of the forest, near my lawn. I wanted to return to my bed and fall into a deep dreamless sleep. The shadow in the trees that had trailed me seemed to had disappeared and I let my guard down a little as I approached my house. I stepped out of the shrubbery and onto the soft dewy grass. I didn't hear or smell my attacker coming. It hit my flank and knocked out the very air from my lungs. I scrambled to my feet and my assailant rammed into my side again. I thought that I heard a crack echo in my body as a rid broke. I howled with pain. I leaped to my feet and faced my attacker.

I almost collapsed again when I saw that my attacker was a wolf. Not any ordinary wolf, but one like me—with cursed, tainted blood. I had seen only one before, and he may have been only my imagination. I wasn't ready to know there were more of them—more like me. My foe was huge; he had to be almost 200 pounds of pure muscle. His fur was black and matted. His canine lips were peeled back showing his large yellow fangs. He lowered his body to a crouch, legs bunched, ready to lunge with another attack. He scared the hell out of me. My body took over, it knew what to do.

I crouched down, ready to defend myself from the next attack. The black wolf leapt at me and I met him in mid air. His teeth latched on to the thick fur on my neck, barely grazing the skin. My jaws clamped onto his ear, with a quick jerk of my head it tore off. Blood spurted on my face. The taste of the tainted blood was bitter and stung my tongue like it was acid. The black wolf lost his grip and jumped out-of-reach with a growl. The black wolf readied for another attack, but I attacked first. I was on him, clamping my teeth on the think fur on the back of his neck. He growled and snapped at my legs as I hung on to his back, but I danced my legs out of his reach. He lost his footing when he tried to buck me off and fell to the ground. I took the opportunity to move my bite to the lower part of his neck and this time I felt blood trickle onto my tongue. The wolf howled in pain as I released and bite down hard into the newly torn flesh. I tugged and pulled at the flesh in my teeth which tore more flesh with each movement. The wolf snapped and growled in pain and frustration. Again I locked my teeth down on deeper, bloodier flesh as I ripped at the wolf's throat. The last bite I made punctured the jugular artery and blood pulsed out with every heartbeat.

I let go of his mangled neck and jumped away. The wolf attempted to rise to his feet, but failed as he fell back to the ground. He growled at me inspite of his condition. Blood leaked steadily from the gaping wound in his neck, his breathing became sluggish and raspy, and his growl gargled with blood. The wolf was dieing. I sat back in horror, not of the wolf, but of my self. I had killed. I had overpowered a wolf—werewolf, one more experienced and more powerful than myself—and I, unknown of this world until tonight, defeated him.

I listened to the rough breathes of the dieing werewolf, each one more drawn out than the last.