When they left the gate Alec stood numb. A forest lay where his town once did; a rough path lay through the undergrowth. Sun scattered through leaves in the early morning. Birds sang and squirrels ran up trees and chattered at the new comers. The air smelled clean, like no cars had ever passed within miles.
Stella twirled quickly; her simple lemon colored dress flowed around her knees. Viren walked behind her as she started down the deserted road. He wore dark jeans and a white tank top. Though Alec still wore his butler clothes, and also carried his bag along with theirs he wasn’t hot. But he was a little surprised.
“You guys don’t have a car?” He stumbled up behind them, and both looked at each other and laughed.
“Wolves don’t have much use for cars do they? Any ways, in our world cars don’t exist, no one has need for them. We travel far if we need to, or want to, cars and trains and planes serve us no purpose.” Stella talked smoothly, but still had a smile playing on her lips, her sharp canines showing. Alec was perplexed.
“Wolves?” He watched as blue-gray eyes looked to him before Stella’s slim body wreathed and twisted before a large wolf-Almost his height-stood before him.
The eyes still held their color, but now they sat in a furred face, a long muzzle ended in a damp nose. The mouth held –minimum- inch long teeth. Four stocky legs ended in paws the size of human hands, claws the length of fingers. He watched-ill-while the she-wolf circled him, rubbing gently against his back, sniffing his neck.
Finally when she came around the front again she bowed her head and he watched the canine straighten and revert back into the human form. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and watched as Alec’s body became less rigid. He inhaled deeply. “Wolves. Right. Why did I expect anything less?” He remembered the fight with the Anima, the claws and savagery that this frail looking woman produced.
They continued walking, and it took sometime before conversation was feasible again. “So, like the wolves in my world…” Alec didn’t know how to phrase the question.
“They descend from us.” Stella seemed to understand well enough.
“But our wolves don’t do that.” He pointed to them, tracing up and down.
“Our ancestors bred with wild dogs when the worlds were shared, we are pure bred wolves, and we kept our magic. Though the human bodies are a favor from God.” Viren walked farther in front while his mate and the human spoke, no doubt looking for danger.
“Rose said something like that…”
“Vampires asked Him for much the same as us. Humans were always favored over animals and other living things. To us they were what we wanted to be, but since we couldn’t-He wouldn’t allow us to be humans- we wanted as close to that as possible. We asked God to give us human forms, and so he set rules to that. Wolves may change form at will, but they will lose half their size, and must eat one human before they mate, else they will die.” She looked to the brown haired boy and smiled. “Worst meal ever.”