An unexpected journey

[Luke]

A full moon was rising over the horizon. The wind blew through the trees kissing them slightly as it brushed by. The wind did carry with it a unique noise, something only heard when bad things are about to happen. The sounds of gunshots and raised voices rang through the air, the sound of a mob marching through the forest. A deer was the victim and meal of choice for Luke that night, however he feasted on human when he could because his vampire side needed it. He didn't look like a wolf, but something more than that, bigger, more powerful. And that made him a monster in the eyes of the common rabble. Luke looked up to the moon, he wondered how quickly life had gone from visiting Geoff to becoming a monster. Some said it was a good thing, others said it was a monstrosity. Geoff said he wouldn't be accepted much outside of him and his followers, vampires and lycans would both likely reject him if they didn't try to kill him.

Luke snapped back to when a bullet grazed his ear, it wasn't silver so it did heal rather quickly, but Luke ran off into the distance to avoid the mob knowing full well that he could have torn them apart with ease. When he reached the edge of a forest bordering a small town, he changed back into his human form and quickly found some clothing to dawn. He saw a poster with his picture on it, although Luke almost didn't recognize it because it was his non-human form.

Luke ripped it down and kept walking through the town. Watching as these humans kept going on with their natural lives as if they were never in danger in the first place. Luke envied them for he used to be apart of them not to long ago. But then one incident, one attack he just got caught in the middle of, getting two bites to his body and his life was turned upside down.

But what was he to do now, he didn't know much of where to go, Geoff had offered him sanctuary and a place in his group. But beyond that he wasn't sure what to do with his new life. He entered a little shack that was selling food, he decided to order a stake rare and sat down to eat it. Luke knew enough that his vampire side would feel a little sick but it wouldn't kill him. He decided to attempt to whether through the sickness later to help him feel human now while eating that steak. But as soon as he was about to take a bite, he sensed someone nearby, he couldn't yet decipher between vampire and lycan, but he could at least decipher between human and non-human. So he got up and out of his chair, walked out and behind the building jumping up onto the roof of the building and looking out at the town to see if he could spot the non human.

[Adele Holst]

Adele spent the day in small town outside of Athens. After being so long with Pete, Damien and the attendents at Perrin's villa, the girl needed some alone time; and there was no better time for that than on a full moon. The town was quiet by all standards and seemed to hold on more strongly to certain superstitions. More than a few posters had been put up around the neighborhood of the silhouette of a strange beast. Adele looked at these with a light-hearted curiousity; the creature definitely wasn't a Werewolf, but why would people stylize a Vampire to look so bulky? And were those wings? Scratching her head, the blonde moved on.
As the evening drew nearer, Adele retreated to the forest. After confirming she was alone, the girl hid her backpack under some brush and waited for the sun to go down. As the moon rose, her clothes fell off, and her body changed involuntarily into the hulking, furry, white wolf-beast the girl had come to love. The sounds and smells of the forest came alive, all shouting at the Lycan for her to pay attention and revel in them. Bounding off into the night, Adele sniffed lazily around her for the scent of meat. What she found, instead, was a group of hunters chasing after something that had clearly given them the slip. The Werewolf part of Adele perked up, wanting to attack the group, while the Human side of her resisted. In the midst of deciding what to do, the hunters turned and caught wind of the wolf, setting the sights of their rifles on Adele. Just as the first one rang out a shot, the girl-beast jumped at the group of Humans, pinning one to the ground while laying into him with her claws.

[Luke]

As Luke sat atop the building looking out for the source of the newly discovered scent, a breeze blew by him carrying the sounds of the same hunters from before, however this time they sounded different to him. These weren't the sounds of someone attacking but of someone clinging on to life as they are being ripped to pieces. It seemed as the same time the scent was also carried with the blood curdling screams. Luke jumped off the building and walked back into the forest.

Shedding his clothes, he changed back into his nonhuman form. He began to chase the sound and the scent when quickly stopping before a pool. He looked down into the reflection, his face, his body, his wings. If ever Luke pictured a monster when he was a young child, that would have been the face of the boogieman under his bed. He slashed the water to destroy his reflection as he decided to take flight just above the forest. Flying quickly towards the sounds and the scent. He quickly found the group of hunters in close quarter combat with a gigantic white wolf that he didn't recognize but he could tell it was where the scent was coming from and that told him that this wolf was a lycan. He didn't see if any of the hunters were still alive but he assumed that they were probably dead by this point.

Luke swooped in and tackled the wolf, putting his best effort into this hit. When his momentum stopped, he watched the wolf closely to see what it would do. He changed back into his human form not even considered his apparent nakedness. He looked to the wolf, "Who are you and more importantly why are you here?" He turned back and grabbed some leaves and twigs to quickly cover himself once he came to that he was naked. "Are you hunting me just like Geoff said I would be hunted? Or have you come to investigate the monster in the woods like those stupid hunters? They didn't need to die, they were just stupid humans who didn't know any better."

A feeling of disappointment started to take over Luke but he quickly dismissed it in the presence of this new adversary. "If you have come to kill me know this, I may be alone, and I may be a young hybrid as Geoff calls me, but I am a hybrid, and I could probably overtake you with ease. But I have no intentions of killing you."

Luke sat there covering his nakedness awaiting this wolf's response.

[Adele Holst]

Red stained Adele's stark muzzle and paws. The hunter she'd pinned had ceased struggling, while one of the others had jumped on her back and was swinging wildly with a knife. The other humans seemed to have fled upon see the massive bi-pedal form of Adele. Reaching behind her, Adele's paw caught hold of the Human, flinging him into a nearby tree. The tree gave a thick, sickly crack... or maybe it was the hunter, Adele wasn't sure, and she didn't really care at the moment.
The next thing she knew, a powerful force plowed into her, pushing her back onto her behind. Adele quickly regained her balance, emitting a deep, threatening growl at the source of the assault. What she saw astonished the Lycan, and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled angrily. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the thing before; in some ways it resembled the creature on the flyers in town. There wasn't look to determine what exactly it looked like, for it quickly reverted to its Human form, addressing the wolf-beast. Its smell was what confused Adele the most. From the glimpse she'd got, this man was a new race, one she'd never seen before; but he smelled vaguely of a Werewolf. Yet there was also the taint of the Undead around it.
I live here. Adele responded defensively into the man's mind. She could be a little testy on nights of the full moon when her Wolf side took over. In her present state of mind, Adele could not have cared any less about killing off the two hunters, but she had no idea what he was talking about 'hunting the monster in the woods'. She hadn't even known this man existed until he tackled her.
When he mentioned Geoff's name, something in her stopped. She knew Geoff had left the Pack, and that Alena had ordered him brought back dead or alive, but there was something she felt she should be remembering about her turn-coat peer. It was hazy, and started to spark a headache, but it felt like Geoff was near; yet the last time Adele remembered seeing him was in Sweden the night of the feast.
Shaking her head, Adele was just about to ask what the man was, when he told her: a Hybrid. It started to make a little sense, but the girl still felt a little uneasy around this guy. He said he didn't want to hurt her yet had tackled her and was boasting of supernatural powers. This was definitely Adele's first encounter with a Hybrid, and she was kind of curious to see what they could do, but there were other ways to find out than attack. The girl shifted down to her four-legged wolf state, but did not move any closer to the man. His nakedness didn't bother her; she'd seen all of the guys in her immediate pack naked countless times by now. But she realized he appeared uncomfortable, so, feeling in a better mood, she offered, I'm not here to kill you, I didn't even know you existed before now. As an after-thought she added, I have some spare jeans in a backpack nearby if you wish. I cannot turn to my Human form tonight. The moon calls to me.

[Luke]

Thoughts entered Luke's mind that was unusual to him, because they weren't his thought. He could tell that it came from the wolf creature before him. He looked into the wolf's eyes, "Thank you". He felt a little more secure with this wolf because it didn't want to kill him. But it wouldn't change either, she did say it was because of the moon He pondered to himself, but it didn't make much sense. But right now not to much made sense to him.

Luke could definitely sense an awkward tension between them. Luke looked at the bodies of the dead hunters all asunder. He didn't like that they died but they did hunt him and it would be a relief to have them stop hunting him. But he couldn't just let his guard down with this wolf just yet.

"So what are you doing here if you aren't here to kill me? Are you spying on us? And more importantly how can I trust that you won't try to kill me as soon as I turn my back." The moon was shining a bright beam on the ground where they stood and the blood of the hunters was shining in the moonlight reflecting like a mirror. "These hunters were after me, I had to either kill them or run. But I pity them because they don't know any better. They think that they just kill me and then it's over, they think there won't be any monsters after me. I know being a hybrid is rare but they don't know how many of you there are, and how many vampires there are." Luke knelt down and grabbed a pair of pants off one of the hunters and threw them on. "Thanks for the offer of the pants, but I don't know if I can trust you. And please don't do anything that we would both regret."

[Adele Holst]

The white wolf shook its head as if it smelled something disturbing, "What? Spying on who?" Adele had no idea what this Hybrid was talking about. I told you, I live here and it's a full moon tonight. I came out to hunt. Not you, just for meat, Adele said, a little frustrated. Didn't this guy know anything about Werewolves? He was supposedly half of one. Didn't he get cravings for meat too? This guy was strange and his smell was really messing with Adele's head. She couldn't decide if she wanted to attack him or just leave him be. Part of her wanted nothing to do with him, but the other part wanted to learn more.
The young woman grunted softly when Luke asked how he could trust her and stated his doubt in her. She didn't care whether he trusted her or not, but felt that out of the two of them, this Hybrid was the least trustworthy. Adele was a Werewolf, so it was a safe bet she would do things for the benefit of her race. But this guy was a Hybrid; Adele didn't know where he stood. For all she knew he preferred Vampires to Werewolves and was planning on trying to kill her. Let him try, she thought, not relaxing her guard. I guess you'll just have to take the gamble of turning your back to find out if I'm trustworthy or not. The wolf gave a lopsided grin. He smelled of Vampire, which repulsed her, there was no way she'd try to eat Luke. But because he smelled of Vampire, she wanted to attack. The Human part of Adele managed to curb any hostile actions for the moment to hear what he had to say. She laughed quietly at his statement; Adele had no regrets.
How did you... What happened to you? Why are you a Hybrid? This was a stupid question, Adele thought, obviously a Vampire and a Werewolf crossed somewhere down the line, but she was curious as to the circumstances that made this man one. Was he one of Alena's children? Those were the only Hybrids Adele had ever even vaguely heard of.

[Luke]

Luke listened as the wolf speak in his mind, something he had to get used to. The wolf talked for a while and then asked him why he was a hybrid. Thinking back to that original incident in Athens, it was that darn cafe He first thought to himself not knowing if it had reached the wolfs mind or not. He had determined that telling her was not a risk to him.

"I was a normal person before all of this, a normal Canadian living in America. When one day I was told that my cousin Geoff was allowing me to visit him, so I flew over and stayed at a hotel near him. A few years go by and one day he comes and visits me telling me to move in with him at his new home. I had never seen where he lived before but I had never given it much thought. So I go along willingly to stay with him. I had gotten a job at a cafe and I eventually ended up being the manager there. One night I am supposed to interview a man for my assistant manager position when a guy looking exactly like him walks by, I go up to him to try and shake his hand but he gives me a look and starts to walk off. But me being naive decided to try striking up a conversation with this guy because he seemed interesting. He kept brushing me off until I somehow mentioned that Geoff was my cousin. He then turned around to talk to me, I assumed they were old friends or something. His name was Ahmad, and when Geoff walked up and saw me talking to him, Geoff looked at Ahmad and attacked him, during their fight Geoff transformed into this wolf creature and Ahmad started to get this red glow in his eyes, at which point Ahmad started to go for me, Geoff tried to defend me. But somehow they both must have thought it best because I got bit by both of them at the same time on either side of my neck." Luke pointed his chin up to indicate the two bite marks on each side of his neck that never healed properly. "At which point I blacked out and didn't wake up until the next morning. That's when Geoff told me what was going on with him and Ahmad, and furthermore he told me that I should be dead and the fact that I'm alive means I'm something new, he said he has heard of hybrids or whatever he called them being born, but never being made. So that's how I came to be here. That wasn't even that long ago, a couple years back if you told me that vampires and lycans existed I would have told you that you must have been smoking something while watching Underworld. But now I don't know what to think. All I know is that I am a lost kid in a new world unknown to me. So whatever you think of me, just know that I am not here trying to do anything for either side right now. All I know is that Ahmad attacked my cousin, and if that's what vampires do then I don't want anything to do with them."

Luke assumed that the wolf wasn't looking for that long drawn out answer that he gave it. But he was hoping that possibly the story could win over the wolf and maybe he would finally start to get allies.

[Adele Holst]

Well that was a hell of a story. Adele listened with interest as Luke told the tale of how he'd become a Hybrid, all the while wondering if this Geoff he was talking about was the same Geoff she knew. She held off on any questions until the end, however. When the man showed his neck, the girl looked at the scars from the bite marks, thinking how strange it was that they never healed. Yes, she'd seen bite marks before that didn't heal, but even hers, which she had considered a rough Turning, had faded away to nothingness after her first transformation. The battle Luke had gotten caught in must have been vicious.
Are you talking about Geoff Nosith, Alena's old lover? It was probably just a coincidence that the Werewolf who bit this guy was also named Geoff, but Adele couldn't shake the feeling of 'what if?'
The white wolf nodded slightly at the end of Luke's speech, thinking to herself about the only Vampires she'd come across. They'd all been out for her throat. Though she couldn't help but remember her very first encounter with Ricktor Rossenheim; that Vampire had had her on death's door. She'd been shot by two of his silver bullets, but instead of finishing her off or leaving her to die, he'd taken her to some cottage in the woods and healed her to fight another day. He had been the acception to the Vampires Adele had come across, but still she agreed with the Hybrid, Leeches are all the same.

[Luke]

When the wolf quickly responded with the question of Geoff's identity right after the story it almost caught him off guard.That's all she got out of that entire story? He thought to himself. But he looked back at the wolf, "So you know him then I can assume? Tell me I haven't seen him for a little while how is he doing?" Luke had seen Geoff fairly recently but Geoff warned him about some other werewolves that might be looking for him and Luke assumed that if they were looking for him and he was hiding out that it was a bad thing. "I've been on my own for what feels like an eternity, not knowing what lycans to trust, and not looking for any vampires to trust if they are all like Ahmad." Luke took a step closer indicating that he was starting to trust this wolf, however it was only one step forward so as not to provoke it.

A cold breeze swept over Luke hitting his skin like a chair thrown at his back. Not having a shirt on and some ripped up pants on made him feel chilled to the bone. "Listen, I would love to keep talking to a wolf in my mind, and I don't mean to be rude but I am freezing my butt off it's pretty chilly out here tonight, usually if I am doing anything this lately I'm hunting for meat or something, some good venison or something like that. But in my human form it's freezing out here. Is there somewhere we can continue this conversation, maybe in some sort of a warmer location?" Luke wasn't sure if he would have just struck a cord with this wolf but he really needed to get out of the cold and soon. "Either that or I could change into my nonhuman form, but trust me it's not much to look at." Trying to crack a joke to ease the tension that Luke felt but it seemed to have fallen short of being funny, or at least he felt. He just sat there awkwardly awaiting the wolfs reply.

[Adele Holst]

As the Werewolf and Hybrid talked, the full moon had changed positions in the sky and was on its descent down into the horizon. From the other end the the sky, pink and orange stretched painstakingly up, trying to devour the sky as the sun slowly crept upwards. Small rays of light began to break through the trees, touching patches of brush and leaves and mud where ever it could.
The breeze that came by ruffled the wolf's thick pelt and felt good to her, but it was plain to see that this same wind would cause discomfort to the half-dressed man before her. Adele was just about to explain that she couldn't leave the moon tonight, when a small ray of sun that had been carefully rising through the branches, shone on her white pelt. Yeah, Adele said, Let me grab my stuff and change. The wolf started to turn away, but stopped mid-way, Wait here. With that, the wolf bounded through the forest, sniffing out where she'd buried her backpack. Using her blood-stained paws, Adele dug her bag out from the leaves and dirt. Looking around briefly to make sure she hadn't been followed, the wolf's form shifted quickly, taking on the shape of a young woman. Moving briskly, Adele ruffled through her backpack, digging out her clothes and dressing in record time. Picking up her black hoodie, Adele noticed the blood still caked on her hands and under her fingernails from the hunters. The sight made her a little uneasy, and she immediately wiped her hands clean on her jeans. Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, the woman wiped her mouth with her hoodie sleeve and went back to where she'd left the Hybrid.
"Sorry for the wait," she spoke aloud for the first time during their encounter. Adele reached behind her awkwardly into her bag, pulling out a spare hoodie, holding it out to the man. It was bound to be a little tight and short in the sleeves, but it would help keep him warm and let him get into shops. "My name's Adele. Want to go for a coffee?" Because of when Adele was bitten, by the looks of it, she appeared to be a good few years younger than this Hybrid, even though unbeknownst to her they were really about the same age. She didn't smile and regarded him with her golden eyes calmly, but she didn't wish him any ill will.