Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

4. Dante

Chapter four

Dante

U nder the light of the full moon, I prowled the village. Cottages with thatched roofs lined the streets. Their windows were dark. Darker than the night. Perfect for hiding who I was now. Asher was off running through the woods like usual, but I preferred sticking closer to home and my books. He didn’t understand my love of the written word. Or how I’d disappear into the stories woven by the authors. He might not understand, but he loved me just the same.

Ever since he’d bitten me and turned me into a werewolf, it had filled me with anger. I’d never asked to become this monster. Every full moon, I had no control over my body, my destiny. I changed into a hideous creature over seven feet tall, with hair over my entire body, claws at the tips of my fingers, and fangs poking from my mouth. Not to mention, my face became more animalistic.

I hadn’t been near a woman since. I was too afraid I’d change during sex and rip her to shreds. A shudder ran through me as I imagined the horror of that scene. I’d ripped a few people to shreds in the first year of my transformation. Most had been my bullies from the village, and I’d shed no tears for causing their deaths. But there’d been an old man once who approached me during my change. I hadn’t meant to hurt him, but my contorting body had inflicted a grievous wound he didn’t recover from.

His death still haunted me.

I hadn’t even told Asher.

Asher had embraced his werewolf shape easier than me. I still struggled with the power. The strength. The enormity of the situation was that I’d live forever this way. No longer human, but something else entirely.

Thinking of Asher, where was he? He should have returned hours ago. Concern for my brother niggled at my skull. I lifted my nose to the air and searched for his scent. I found a trail from our home leading into the woods. Pricking my long ears forward, I scanned the forest for any sounds of conflict, but none arose. Sensing no threat, I followed the scent trail of Asher deeper and deeper into the woods until the trees loomed over me so much that they cut the shine from the moon entirely. My beastly eyes adjusted to the lack of light. I trekked over fallen logs dead and decaying with moss, ducked between solid tree trunks, and followed Asher’s scent to a castle nestled in the thick forest.

I’d lived in this area all my life. No one ever mentioned a castle buried deep in the woods. I paused under the cover of the trees, their branches a creepy umbrella over my head, shielding me from the glow of the moon. My supernatural eyes surveyed the area. The castle was tall, with spindly towers reaching to the moon, turrets decorated the exterior, making it more good-looking rather than imposing. It was quiet too. As though it was deserted. A ruin then? Had Asher gone inside an abandoned castle for fun? I inched out of the trees. Asher’s familiar werewolf shape inched around the brick wall surrounding the castle’s garden.

“Asher,” I called out and loped over to him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, whipping his head around on his huge shoulders.

“I was looking for you. What is this place?”

I pointed to the castle, to the unnatural sensation emanating from the building. Such a strange thing to think. Buildings didn’t give off vibrations the way humans did, but then my gaze drifted back to the structure.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it or heard of it before. Have you?”

Asher’s voice dragged my attention back to him. He always reveled in being in his werewolf shape. His chest, hell, his entire body was bigger, but it was more than that. It was the way he held himself with pride now.

“No.”

“Let’s have a look inside.” He waggled his thick, busy werewolf eyebrows.

I eyed the wire gates standing wide open in invitation, but a prickling sensation running up my spine told me we shouldn’t go inside.

“I don’t think so.”

“Are you scared of an old castle? There’s not even a light on inside. ”

His voice taunted and teased me the way a younger brother was cocky knowing his big brother always had his back.

“That’s what creeps me out the most. Haven’t you ever read a horror story?”

I’d read many. Perhaps that was why the castle appeared to be alive. I must have read too many horror stories.

“No, and I don’t want to.” He tossed back his beastly head. “I’m going in. Are you coming?”

“I’ll wait for you here.” I folded my arms over my massive chest, the hairs dug into my palms as I rested them on my biceps.

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged in the nonchalant way Asher always did and walked toward the open gate. He was always prone to running headfirst into things. I tossed up once again if it was his personality, our absent parents, or if he had no regard for his life.

He stepped across the threshold, and a dark stain swirled around the perimeter. I stood straighter, eyeing the pattern as it dissipated into the air and disappeared.

“Are you okay?” I called.

“That felt a little weird.”

“In what way?” I asked, already walking closer to him, my protective older brother urges coming roaring to the surface. If he didn’t protect himself, then I would.

He shook his entire body like a dog shaking off water from his coat, but nothing flew from his fur. My entire being vibrated with nervous energy. He turned and walked back toward me, a cocky grin on his face, but uncertainty shone in the depths of his eyes. As he reached the gateway, his body fell backward as though he’d walked straight into a wall.

“Asher?” I ran forward. Ran to my brother.

“Stop.” He sat up, rubbing his forehead. “Don’t come through the gate. ”

I skidded to a stop, dirt and grass flying up from my heels. “Why not?”

“I don’t think…” He glanced to his left then right before his gaze landed back on mine, imploring me to stay put. “I can get out now.”

A blur of white flashed across the ramshackle grounds, and then there was a woman beside Asher. She was heart-stopping beautiful. Long, dark hair hung to her waist in curls that bounced with her sudden movement. As did the white gown she wore. A vision of loveliness under the glowing moon.

“What do I have here?” she asked, kneeling beside Asher.

He scooted back as though he was afraid. The flare of white in his eyes widened more and more with each passing second. Since when was the great werewolf Asher afraid of anyone?

“Leave my brother alone,” I said.

“And if I don’t?” She lifted her face to look at me.

Her eyes hit me with the force of blue ice crystals. Deadly and beautiful at the same time. My focus stayed on the beautiful woman. It was hard to look away from her. I’d seen no one like her.

“He’s my little brother.” I inched a tiny step forward. “Please, I’ll do anything for him.”

“Anything?” She arced a delicate eyebrow. Even that was beautiful. “Trade places with him then.”

“Gladly, but he said he can’t get out.”

I’d do anything for my younger brother. Always. I’d trade my body, mind, and soul so he’d be free.

Her ruby-red lips tugged into a smile. “That is a problem. Perhaps if you pass at the same time, it’ll work.”

“Is this your castle?”

“It is.” A touch of sadness tinged her eyes, but then it disappeared before I was certain I’d seen it .

How did she not understand how to get my brother out if this was her castle?

“You own it?”

“Yes. Enough with your questions, werewolf beast. What’s it to be? You or your brother?”

“Me. Always me,” I said without hesitation. My life for his was a simple trade and one I’d always lay on the line.

“Dante. No. Leave me here. Save yourself,” Asher said.

The panic and fear tinging his voice made me even more certain I was making the right decision, but when it came to Asher, there was no decision to be made. I’d protect him.

“Not a chance, Asher.” I stepped closer to the gate. To the place, the strange wave of the dark stain swirled into existence one moment and disappeared the next.

The woman waved Asher toward me with her dainty hand. It wasn’t like she could hurt me. She was tiny compared to my massive werewolf form.

“How do you know I won’t just take him and leave?” I asked.

“Because your brother knows what I am and knows it’s wise not to run. I’d catch you and kill you both.”

Perhaps my assessment of the beautiful woman was wrong. But I had claws and muscles. I’d fight for Asher if she tried to hurt him. And if she killed him… the beast inside me would tear her to shreds.

“We did nothing wrong,” I said, trying my best to keep this exchange from bloodshed.

“Your brother trespassed on my property.”

We glared at each other while Asher kept shaking his head as though he was too scared to talk. So unlike the Asher, I knew. Who the hell was this woman?

“True, but he meant no harm.”

She grabbed Asher’s arm. “Werewolves always mean harm. I don’t want either of you in here, but you,” she said, pointing her finger, “at least seem to have a bit of decorum and I’m afraid the gates won’t let him leave, but a swap might work.”

“Might?”

“Magic.” She shrugged.

As if saying magic worked on the gate explained everything. What was she hiding? And why was I so intrigued to find out? Everything about her appealed to me. From the ballgown, wait, she wore a ballgown? I frowned and glanced at the quiet castle. It didn’t appear a ball was in progress. Even more questions jumped into my head. I hungered for the answers more than I’d starved for food in my life and that was saying something.

“At the same time, then.” I stepped closer to where the ‘magic’ had appeared. My skin prickled with awareness.

She walked Asher to the gateway, then stepped back a step and folded her arms. Her eyes lit with an emotion I couldn’t quite tell. If I knew her better, then maybe I’d understand what she was thinking and experiencing. That hunger deepened further.

“All right, Asher. Let’s get you out of there. Remember when we used to mimic each other?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

“Like that.”

He chewed his bottom lip into his mouth. Such a slight gesture brought me back to our childhood. I couldn’t leave him in there.

“Now, Asher.”

He nodded. I nodded too. I lifted my hand, and he copied. Slowly, we inched closer to the gateway. The second my hand passed through the barrier, a thick sensation made my skin crawl with dread. I wanted to yank my hand back, but what would happen to Asher if I did since his hand was now on the other side of the gateway and it looked like this would work? Tiny movements at a time, and Asher and I passed each other. His eyes were wide with fear, but I kept my mouth shut because the mirror image thing wouldn’t work if I spoke. How I knew I didn’t understand. Perhaps too much reading. As we passed the point of no return, the barrier burst with a black light, sending us sprawling on opposite sides.

“Well damn,” the woman said. “I didn’t think that would work.”