Not A Monster

A short story

She ran as fast as she could. Though her hands were stained with blood, and her left shoulder was still bleeding, she forced herself on. Around her, the neighborhood proceeded as if nothing was wrong. Children who were trick-or-treating saw her as a teenager in a Halloween costume, probably headed to Jessica’s party down the road. Adults gave her a queer stare, if only for the look of urgency on her face. You would have thought that she was running for her life, the way she was going. Well if she were, she probably would have known enough to stop and ask help from anyone else on the street. As it was, there were people everywhere.

But then, Susan Mills wasn’t running for her life. She was running for the life of the man she loved.

As she ran, her mind raced just as fast, her head throbbing. So much had happened over the past few hours that, as of tonight, she knew that nothing would ever be the same. She was a murderer now. Once the two bodies she had left at her house were found, along with the bloodstained kitchen knife which had been the murder weapon, she would be a wanted criminal. All her dreams thrown out the window.

But did it matter now, really? All she could think about now was that Kyle’s life was in danger. The men who had came to her house carrying weapons- they called themselves hunters, had asked her to reveal where Kyle was hiding. According to them, he was a monster- he had killed over forty people over the last five years, twenty of which had happened in this town itself.

They weren’t the first hunters to arrive in town. Ever since Kyle had arrived here two years ago, ever since he had shared his secret with her, there had been a number of ‘hunters’ coming to town looking for him. She’d seen him kill them, but only in self-defense. Now more were coming. The two men who had come to her house had threatened to kill her if she did not cooperate, and somehow, luckily, she had managed to come out of that situation alive. But they had mentioned that at least ten other hunters were in town now, looking for Kyle. This time Kyle would not be able to stand his ground. He would have no choice but to run.

She had to warn him before it was too late.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Why did all of this have to happen now? Ever since she had met Kyle, he had given her life what little meaning she felt that she had left. Even when he had revealed himself to be a werewolf, a human who transformed into a beast under the light of the full moon, she had loved him, simply because he loved her. He was the first person to ever love her for who she was.

And she had vowed to stay by his side, and help him achieve control over his inner beast, if such a thing was possible.

She would have graduated next year, and then they would have been able to move on from this town and start over somewhere else. It had all been so close…

“How can you explain the deaths that have been happening in this town? The ones with the claw marks?”

“Bears. Wolves. In case you haven’t noticed, this town is in the middle of a forest. We’ve been having attacks from wild animals since long before Kyle set foot in this town,” she had argued. And indeed, the blame for the killings were always placed on wild animals. Even when the authorities examined the bodies, it was always the same conclusion.

They hadn’t believed her. They hadn’t left her with any choice.

When she came to Kyle’s log cabin at the edge of town, she banged on the front door as loudly as she could.

There was no time to waste.

When he opened the front door, he saw her and his eyes widened with concerned as he reached forward to hold her. “Susan? What’s going on? God, you’re bleeding…”

“Hunters,” Susan answered as she stepped inside, struggling to catch her breath. “Two of them came to my house. They know that I’m close to you. They tried to get me to tell them where you are, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t, and…”

Tears were flowing freely now.

Kyle was growling now. It always unnerved her whenever he did that. Even though it wasn’t the full moon outside, it made her feel as though his anger would be enough to fuel his transformation.

“They hurt you? Did those bastards hurt you? I’m going to rip them apart!” he exclaimed.

Susan shook her head quickly, holding his hand firmly. “They’re dead, Kyle. I killed them. But it’s not them we should be worried about right now. The ones who came to my house, they told me that there were at least ten in town right now, looking for you! You’ve got to leave town now.”

Kyle’s eyes widened. “Ten?” he gasped. And the anger in his eyes was quickly replaced by fear.

“Give me the keys to your car,” Susan said, standing up. “You go and pack whatever you need and I’ll meet you up front.”

That was when she noticed the bags lying on the floor not too far from where she was sitting.

She shot a questioning look at Kyle.

And that was when the front door was knocked down.

A man in a long brown coat stepped in, carrying a shotgun. When he saw Kyle and Susan sitting together, a yellow grin appeared on his face.

“Found you, fucker.”

But it was Kyle who made the first move. In less than a heartbeat, he had already leaped towards the hunter, attempting to wrestle the gun from the hunter’s grip. The first shot fired shattered the nearby glass window as Susan ran, screaming.

As Susan disappeared into the kitchen, the struggle ended.

A wide grin appeared on Kyle’s face as he simply wrenched the weapon out of the hunter’s grip as simply as an adult would from a child. He laughed as he tossed it over his shoulder-

It was then that the hunter noticed that Kyle’s eyes had turned acid yellow.

“Surprise, fucker,” Kyle growled.

And the hunter was sent flying out the front window, crashing into the pile of firewood outside the house. Before he could even get up, Kyle was already standing on top of him, grabbing him by the collar- except that he wasn’t in human form anymore.

“Where’s your backup?” Kyle growled. “My girlfriend said there’d be ten of you.”

The man didn’t answer, but the look in his eyes told Kyle all that he needed to know. The werewolf threw its head back and laughed.

“Don’t like the idea of splitting the money ten ways did you? So you decided to play the hero. Well too bad, that was the last mistake you’ll ever make.”

In one fluid motion, he snapped the man’s neck like a twig.

Before he could celebrate his victory however, there was the sound of gunfire-

And he spun around to see another armed man in a coat, lying a good distance from him on the ground, his lifeless eyes staring up at the sky.

There was a bullet in his head.

And Kyle turned to see Susan standing at the doorway, holding a revolver. His revolver. The one he usually kept in the kitchen.

He melted into human form and walked over to her. She gave him a weak smile before she placed the gun into his hands. “Let’s go,” she said. “Before more arrive.”

He didn’t argue. Wordlessly he went back into the house to pick up what little belongings he had before he stuffed them into the trunk of his car. “You saved my life, Susan,” he said as he walked over to the driver’s seat. “I owe you one.”

Then he saw her coming over to get into the passenger’s seat, and that was when he stopped, giving her a questioning look. “Where are you going?”

Susan stared at him. “We’re running away, aren’t we? You can’t stay. I can’t stay either- I’m a murderer now. What other choice do we have left?”

Silence.

Kyle closed the door to the driver’s seat and walked over to her slowly, an apologetic look in his eyes. “Susan, I can’t take you with me,” he said. “You’ll slow me down.”

Her eyes widened with shock, and he held her by the shoulders. Only now it didn’t feel like he was doing it to comfort her. His grasp was so tight that it actually hurt.

“Susan, the reason why I was packed when you came over is because I was going to leave tonight anyway. I’ve gotten bored of this town, and you,” he said. The way he said it was so simple, so direct, that it could have been a joke. And how she did wish that it was a joke.

But the glint in his eyes. The grin on his face…

“Wait,” Susan murmured. “When you killed that first hunter…you were in werewolf form-

“Finally catching on, I see,” Kyle said in a mocking tone. “I was wondering why you hadn’t shot me instead of that guy’s partner. Look’s like you’ll always be a little bit slow. That’s what I loved about you.”

“Kyle, what’s wrong with you?” Susan’s voice was faltering now. Kyle’s grip on her shoulders was the only thing that was keeping her from falling to her knees.

“Susan, you’re an idiot. I’ve achieved control over my werewolf form since before coming to this town, and I can transform at will. I kept the whole story about not having control, about my ‘guilt’ just keep you on my side.”

He let go, outstretching his arms as he took a few steps back.

“And look how you fell for it! ‘I’m a monster, Susan, you can’t possibly love me!’ What a laugh! And haven’t you noticed the killings? You don’t seriously believe a bear would stroll into town to kill people, do you? The only reason the authorities blame wild animals is because they’re stumped! And the stories I told you, the people I ‘accidentally’ killed before I came here- here’s the truth. All of them were killed on purpose-

“STOP!”

She was on the ground now, looking down at her bloodied hands. She was sobbing uncontrollably now, her tears streaming down her face.

“Please, I don’t want to hear any more of this, Kyle. Please tell me that it’s a lie-

He grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up to his face.

“Believe this, at least,” Kyle said in a low voice, almost a whisper. “I was going to eat you on the way out of town, just for the sake of it.”

And the sadness, the pain of betrayal in her eyes were immediately replaced by an altogether more powerful emotion.

Fear.

“But since you saved my life-

He kissed her. There was no love in this kiss, only lust. And now, at that moment it occurred to her that every single kiss that they had shared, none of it had been true.

And when he was done he let go, shoving her back onto the ground.

“I’m sparing you,” he said as he turned back towards his car. “What you’re going to do with your life from now on is your problem.”

He got in the car without looking back. As he started the engine, she scrambled to her feet to get out of the way as the car reversed out towards the dirt road.

He opened the windows to look at her one last time.

“Take care, baby.”

And with those last words, he left her, driving off into the darkness of the night.

--

Author’s Note: I would’ve liked to have elaborate more on this story, flesh out the characters and the like, and I probably will when I have the time. Either way, the concept of this story came from the idea I had of creating a character that was the polar opposite of the ones I usually came up with- tortured werewolves who couldn’t come to terms with what they were. So here’s one who’s not only proud of what he is, he’s proud of, and enjoys killing humans. And I think I kinda like this guy. Rest assured that this isn’t the last you’ll hear from him.

Oh, and he seems to remind me somewhat of Buffy’s Angelus. The kissing part at least. But that makes me like him all the more.

Maybe he’s a by-product of my ‘I don’t need to have a girlfriend to be happy’ phase. Hm…