James didn't know how to feel right now.
The thought sat heavy in his chest as the quiet of the house pressed in around him, the kind of silence that made his own heartbeat sound too loud.
He was a werewolf now, but his friend was a vampire—and he didn't notice sooner because apparently vampires could hide their presence pretty well.
That realization alone made his skin itch, the idea that something so close to him had gone unnoticed for so long.
Michael had left a while back, James having kicked him out after he made one too many zesty jokes.
James had a limit for the zestiness, and that limit had been reached.
The memory still lingered, half annoyance, half disbelief, the echo of laughter and sarcasm clashing with something much heavier underneath.
Still, James couldn't help but wonder if he had new abilities now. If his memory served him right, he should have shadow abilities.
The thought crept in slowly, curiosity pushing aside unease.
When that weird beast creature took control, it had been able to summon shadows.
Darkness that moved with intent. Darkness that listened.
James' brow furrowed a bit. He would need to test his abilities.
Not recklessly—but soon.
Yet he didn't want to test them in any random field.
What if he was found by hunters? Apparently, those bastards were really OP and an actual threat to the supernatural.
Not myths. Not rumors. Actual dangers.
Well, at least to mid-tier threats. Michael seemed decently afraid of them, but not in a holy shit they're coming way—more like fuck, they're here.
Annoying. Dangerous. Avoidable.
It seemed like they could be avoided.
He furrowed his brow again, wondering what he could do to go undetected. It should be fine. He was a newly turned werewolf. His abilities shouldn't all show up at once—only one at a time.
Hopefully.
His phone vibrated.
The sudden buzz snapped him out of his thoughts.
He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, already knowing it was a text. His notification sounds were different for each app.
A small thing, but it mattered to him.
He liked his stuff semi-organized.
Opening up Discord.
{Vampirelover}
|Meet me at the park|
{WildBoy}
|Give me time to change first|
|Vampirelover is typing|
{WildBoy}
|No gay shit|
And just like that, the typing stopped.
Silence again.
James went to his room and grabbed a black shirt. It had Goku on the front and Dragon Balls on the back.
Simple. Comfortable. Familiar.
James found it pretty neat. While yes, he was wild, he liked Dragon Ball. He watched the original and even played all the games—though he regretted watching Dragon Ball Evolution.
That shit was a fresh piece of ass.
Some mistakes stuck with you forever.
He sprayed on some AX body spray and combed his wild hair a bit more, taming it just enough to not look homeless.
The mirror reflected someone familiar—but different.
Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he looked normal. Nothing screamed werewolf.
At least not at first glance.
Though his chest hair seemed to be growing a bit.
Thicker. Darker.
Nothing a quick shave couldn't save.
He was buff, and while yes, shaving after putting on perfume and clothes wasn't normal—neither was his life now.
Normal had left the building.
As he leaned closer to the mirror, he noticed something else.
Instead of the usual four canines he was supposed to have, four of his incisors—the ones closest to his canines—seemed sharper than usual.
Not dramatic. Just… wrong enough to notice.
That would be eight fangs in total when fully transformed.
He thought he was only supposed to have four. Maybe that was a minor difference between races.
His friend had four. He would have eight.
Something like that.
After shaving, he stared at his reflection again. Wilder hair. Sharper teeth.
Something feral just beneath the surface.
For just a moment, his reflection grinned back at him differently.
Not him.
A full-on werewolf stared back through the mirror.
He took a deep breath. He could do this.
He wasn't scared of the beast looking back at him. Matter of fact, the sight had his blood pumping like no other.
Adrenaline. Anticipation.
This was exciting.
He took another deep breath and calmed himself down.
Putting on deodorant, he checked himself one more time in the mirror before grabbing his keys and leaving the house, heading toward the park.
The door clicked shut behind him.
There was a park near his house, between his place and the school. Two ways to get there: the long way around, or through the mini forest.
You know.
The place he got mauled by that wolf.
There was a shop before the park.
Well, he wasn't about to dox himself.
His keys were in his pocket. His necklace was on.
He was ready.
"Hm, the sun sure is pretty," he muttered, turning around to look at it as it began to dip below the horizon.
Gold bled into orange, shadows stretching long.
He could clearly see the moon starting to rise.
That meant it was only a matter of minutes—at worst, an hour—before the moon was fully in the sky and the sun completely set.
"I can get there before then," he muttered, making his way toward the park with his hands in his pockets.
As he entered the forest, something inside him eased.
Like stepping into a familiar rhythm.
Unlike the suburbs, he didn't feel overstimulated here.
While yes, he could sense everything around him—he could see ants crawling on the ground, hear bees buzzing a little too loudly—there was something different about it.
Something calmer.
Something familiar.
Yet there was something else he was beginning to notice.
"Hungry."
"Food."
"Water."
"Sleep."
James turned his head, realizing the sounds weren't coming from a human.
They sounded… different.
His gaze shifted toward a nearby tree.
A bird perched on one of the branches stared back at him, tilting its head.
The bird opened its beak and let out a—
"Caw."
Yet while that was the sound the bird emitted, James heard something else entirely.
"Hungry."
James paused.
He knew what he heard.
He was hearing the animal's voice—as if they could speak to him.
Well.
Speaking would be putting it highly.
More like, he could hear their base instinct, a way to explain it, would be like trying to explain how you can understand a cavemen.
This shit was hard to explain.
The bird tilted its head again, one beady eye fixed on him. Its feathers ruffled.
"Hungry," it repeated—at least, that's what James heard. What came out of the beak was still just another sharp caw, but the meaning slid into his head anyway, clear as day.
James swallowed. "You… can speak to me?"
The bird hopped closer along the branch, claws scraping against bark.
"Noise-boy hears," it thought, the words rough and simple, like concepts instead of sentences. "Noise-boy smells like forest. Not-food. Not-predator. Strange."
James let out a shaky breath. "Great. I can talk to birds now."
Another presence crept into his awareness. Then another. Squirrels froze mid-scurry. Insects went quiet.
A low rustle spread through the trees as attention slowly, cautiously, turned toward him.
He hadn't noticed it before, but now he felt it—threads of awareness brushing against his own, curious, wary, alive.
"Wild human boy," came a new thought, this one sharper, more amused.
James turned toward the sound. A crow landed on a lower branch, black feathers glossy in the fading sunlight. It regarded him with far too much intelligence.
Yet, James felt like the crow intelligence level was higher than the rest, if everyone else could only speak semi hunga bunga, the crow was like a toddler.
"Wild… human?" James echoed. "So you see me as human"
The crow let out a sound that might have been laughter.
"Was," it corrected. "Not now."
James frowned. "Oh, so you can sense that?"
The bird cocked its head, studying him in a way that made his skin prickle.
"You smell like change," it said. "Like teeth and moon and blood-not-blood."
That was… uncomfortably accurate.
Before James could respond, the first bird suddenly fluffed up, hopping excitedly.
"Oh," it thought, recognition sparking. "Ohhh. I saw you."
James stiffened. "Saw me… where?"
The bird bobbed its head. "Forest edge. Night-fight. You got your ass kicked."
James choked. "—HEY."
The crow cawed loudly, clearly entertained. "True. Very true. Big silver hunter-girl. Fast. Mean. Threw you like stick."
James rubbed the back of his neck. "You saw that?"
"Yes," the bird replied proudly. "Watched from tree. Very funny."
"…Fantastic," James muttered. "Even the wildlife saw me get folded."
Then the crow's gaze sharpened. "Wait."
It leaned forward slightly, peering at him.
"Silver hunter-girl," it repeated. "Luna."
James froze. "You… know her?"
The forest stirred again, softer this time. Less wary. More familiar.
"Yes," several small thoughts chimed in at once. "Moon-woman."
"Silver-smell."
"Brings food."
James blinked. "She feeds you?"
The crow nodded once. "Sometimes. Leaves seeds. Meat scraps. Talks to trees like they answer."
James stared.
"…Do the trees answer?"
There was a pause. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath.
"…Sometimes," the crow admitted.
James exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair, fingers dragging through the mess of it as if grounding himself.
"So let me get this straight. You guys know Luna. She feeds you. You watched me get my ass kicked. And now you're calling me a 'wild human boy.'"
The bird hopped closer, eyes bright, claws clicking softly against bark.
"Wild boy," it corrected. "Not human. Not wolf. In-between."
James felt something in his chest stir at that—something warm, something that fit.
Not an answer, but a truth.
"And you hear us," the bird continued. "That means Gaya hears you too."
James glanced around, suddenly aware of how quiet the woods had become—not empty, but listening. The trees loomed taller, the roots beneath the soil feeling closer somehow.
"Gaya, as in the earth, or mother nature?" He question.
"Wild boy not stupid as i thought" The crow would seem to say.
"Gaya is here" James paused, when he heard the squirl, he paused a bit, what did they mean by that.
Suddenly a gust of wind would blow by, cool and alive, brushing against his skin. He could feel it.
He could hear the lake nearby, the soft lapping of water against stone, the sound of the creature of the forest, practically feel the cycle of life moving all around him.
Herbivore eating grass, carnivore hunting and doing their job.
Everything was perfectly in balance…as it should be.
The crow would perch on his shoulder, its weight light but real.
"No," the crow agreed. "Not like you. Bigger. Older. Everywhere. You stand in her, breathe her, eat her, bleed on her."
"What do you mean i am in her"
The crow clicked its beak. "Wild boy is a perverted human"
"I am not, you didnt say it properly" He was really fighting for his social standing right now.
"Perverted human" The crow would caw.
He stood there another second, trying to wrap his head around the sheer scale of what he'd felt—before a glance upward made his stomach drop.
The moon.
Fully risen. Bright. Dead center in the sky.
"…Fuck," James muttered. "I'm late."
The crow leaned closer to his ear. "Late for pale boy."
James stiffened. "You saw him?" Also how the fuck did the crow know that.
"Yellow hair. Blue eyes. Pretending to be a prey when he is not" the crow replied. "Went deeper. Middle trees."
James' heart skipped. "Did he look annoyed?"
The crow made a thoughtful noise. "Always."
"Yeah, that's him," James said immediately. "Can you take me to him?"
The crow stared at him.
Then laughed.
"No."
James scowled. "Why not?"
The crow puffed up. "Why would I? What do I gain?"
"…Good karma?"
The crow tilted its head. "Don't care."
James sighed, reaching into his pocket. His fingers brushed cold metal.
He paused.
Then slowly pulled out a coin, letting it catch the moonlight.
Silver rim. Clean. Shiny.
The crow's eyes locked onto it instantly.
James held it up between two fingers. "I'll give you this if you lead me to my friend."
The crow's personality did a full 180.
"Oh," it said pleasantly. "Why didn't you start with that?"
James stared. "Wow. No hesitation at all."
"Shiny is shiny," the crow replied, hopping excitedly. "Deal accepted."
It leapt off his shoulder, fluttering ahead a few feet before circling back impatiently.
"Follow, wild boy," it called. "Your pale friend walks like he wants to be eaten."
And just like that, he was guided to his buddy.
"You sure took your sweet ass time" Michael would say dryly.
James spotted him immediately. He was hanging from a tree—no, that wasn't it. Shit was like when Kakashi was teaching team 7 chakra control, the sole of his foot[shoes] were touching the tree, and he was hanging there, as if he was glued to the tree surface.
"Kinda realise i could speak to animal, and lost track of time" He said innocently.
"Oh nice, you a disney princess now" Michael would teased, James looked annoyed, his hands going through his hair.
"Hey, in my defence, If you heard an animal speak you to would react like that"
"Probably would"
As if some force was pushing him, he would go from being upside down, to now standing on top of the branch.
The man would then jump from the tree, and softly land on the floor, both of his hands being in his pocket.
"The way you said probably, lead me to believe, you dont have that skil"
Michael would simply smile
.
"And you would be correct" He said with a smile on his lips.
"Animal and natures are more the furry side, I have illusion, compulsion and blood, We on the other hand, prefer playing with the mind"
He had a small smile on his face the whole time.
Mist would begin surrounding the area, thin at first, then thicker. James eyes would look around, it was becoming harder and harder to see in this thick smoke.
The forest blurred. Shapes dissolved.
"Now furry boy, Let test out your ability."
The smoke would fully enveloped them,
James could not see shit.
Shit.