Chapter 3. Warm, Cold and Berserk

I fluttered my eyes open unconsciously to meet the sight of a strange room. For a while, I was thoughtless and felt no memory of who I was. Not until my conscience kicked in. I opened my eyes a little wider subconsciously as I remembered the last thing I saw before I...

'What!?... I, didn't die?' I was surprised as I was certain that I had seen the monster killing everyone of the pack who were there in the woods, mercilessly. The memory of the horrid iron smell of blood made my nose sting. Nonetheless, It seemed I have survived. But...

'Just how. And... where am I?' I couldn't help but take a look around the room which had quite the traditional setting. I could tell from the wooden structure of the room that I wasn't anywhere in the cities that Sam had showed me before. The buildings were a lot more sophisticated and had much more intricate interior design from what I knew. This place, however, seemed a lot more like...

'Oh no!!..' The thought of having been taken back to the Moonblood pack crossed my mind and it made me shudder in fear. However, I was certain I wouldn't be given any of this treatment if it were to be so. Jason wasn't so considerate, he is a true monster. Moreso, I couldn't remember ever being in any place resembling this room back when I was still in the Moonblood pack.

Mostly, I have to figure out where I am and escape as soon as I can. I needed to do just that to ever have the slightest hope of living, at least. Judging from the smell of nature that lingered around, I couldn't have gone too far away from the pack and the woods. However, I was still clueless to what part exactly. Dashing out without knowing could cost me.

"Aah!!" I let out a short sigh and though my body felt stiff, I still tried to sit up on the bed. However, the moment I tried to stand, I felt a piercing pain surge through my whole being from the side of my abdomen all the way up to my shoulder.

The feeling of my flesh tearing was something I was used to but this time it was differently painful. I quickly moved my hand to the source of the pain and held it. Only to find something wet trickle down my wrist a few moment later. I brought my hands to my sight and I could see my own blood that had stained my fingers and palm.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened. I was startled by the sudden appearance of a man who looked well... Manly. His gaze was piercing and quite sharp and I could tell from his demeanor that he wasn't very nice. However, remembering I had my wounds patched up, I figured it was his doing. But I still had this instinct that he wasn't in any way a soft person.

I had never seen him before, not that I knew any other person except those in the pack and I was certain there hadn't been a new member so far as I knew. I tried to sniff but I couldn't tell anything by his quite awkward scent as well.

'A rogue perhaps?'

"Stay back!" I yelled at him with all that I had. I didn't know my throat was so dry and so, I sounded a bit too weak than I intended. The stinging pain from my side increased badly and I think I might have opened my wound a little bit more.

The man stopped on his approach and raised his hands in the air to show he meant no harm. "I mean no harm but, you're bleeding" he pointed to my abdomen and made a painful face seeing the expressions I made. I couldn't help but look down to see what he was talking about and it was true, the bandage was soaked in blood and my black gown was stained burgundy on the side.

"Ssstt!!!" I clenched my teeth hard and hissed in an attempt to suppress and bear the pain that hit me. I could only lay back slowly on the bed and focus on getting rid of the pain.

I heard his footstep and looked up to watch him closely as he quickly roamed the room. He opened a drawer of a table in the corner of the room and I saw him pick up a white bandage and some bottled substance that looked gooey and blue. He moved closer towards me and crouched beside the bed to touch the hem of my dress but quickly stopped as if struck by something.

"I- I can help. But first we need to..." He looked down at my cloth. I wasn't certain what he was talking about, was he going to help me or talk.

"Do it!" I couldn't help but yell at him, the pain was getting unbearable. He was startled by my outroar because of the close distance and soon he had his hands on my dress. He lifted from the hem and the sight of the horrible wound I had sustained was in sight. Looking down at it, It was just... horrible.

He moved his hand and slowly removed the previous bandage. He picked up some cotton wool and slowly cleaned my wounds. It was painful but he was quite gentle and careful with it. He pulled out a white plastic bottle and opened it.

"This will hurt, clench your teeth hard." I could tell he wasn't joking from the chilly smell that exhumed the bottle and simply followed his instruction.

"Nghhaaaah!!" I was unable to keep my teeth clenched and ended up crying out loud as he poured the substance over my wounds. I could smell my flesh sizzling but the feeling went straight to my head, making it heavy and quite achy. It kind of reminded me of the things I suffered in the past in the hands of Jason. This was the kind of pain he made me go through for his pleasure.

Nonetheless, the pain was only a heavy rush and soon it started to subside. The next instant I could feel his soft gentle caress on the sides of my wounds again, slowly cleaning up the remains of the substance as well as the blood stain. I looked down once again and saw that I had stopped bleeding. What was that medicine really, it didn't seem normal.

He started applying the gooey substance on some wool and he gently placed it over my wound. The coolly sensation from the blue medicinal substance felt so good that I now only realize how hot and sweaty I was from the prior.

It was a sweet sensation of relief after all the pain. And the cold sensation kept increasing until it finally stopped. I looked down towards him through my heavy lids and I could see him smiling. He looked quite, different, from all the other people that I've met. Cold but at the same time warm.

"You'll be fine as long as you do not move around. Feel safe to rest, I'll go bring some water for you." He said as he pulled down my dress to cover me once again. His gaze was focused on my face all the time. "T-thank you" I stuttered to say.

I could count how many times I've said that word. He nodded and turned to leave the room. I watched his back as he left and just when he was out of sight, I couldn't help but sigh in relief. Nice or not, everyone's the same, I have to be careful around him and stall him long enough till my wounds heal and then I could escape from his grasp.

I didn't know who he was but I could tell he wasn't normal in any way. No one used this kinds of medications and moreso, none dared to venture into the woods but hunters and foolish rogues. It was at times like this that I could be thankful to my low class and strength as a Were. But nonetheless, even if I could hide this much, I was certain a hunter wouldn't be fooled by my appearance, they had their means after all.

Nevertheless, hunter or rogue, I only need to play along as much as I can with him. As far as I can see, he doesn't seem to want to kill me for now, and that's enough.

I slowly relaxed and closed my eyelids that were starting to get heavier by the passing minute. ...

Darren wore a gloomy expression on his face as he walked down the corridor towards the stairs. He had lived alone for countless years in this two stairs cabin which he had taken in the farthest part of the wood for a reason related to himself. After several painstaking events that had occured in the past, he decided to settle here.

'Those scars on her body...' Darren couldn't get the sight of such cruelty out of his mind.

As he treated the werewolf lady, he saw various scars and skin burns that riddled almost every part of her body. He didn't know if she had done that to herself or if somebody else did it and he was overly curious as to just what kind of life she had lived up to this point.

He wanted to ask her about it but decided not to since it wasn't polite, plus the situation earlier wasn't the right one to ask such a question. Darren nonetheless, was interested to know about the identity of the Were-lady and why she was so... Special.

The memory of the night he took her in his cabin replayed in his mind like a rolling tape. He still couldn't fathom how it was possible that it had happened. He was sure that it shouldn't have happened at all. It was another night out in the woods without a moon. He had lost control of himself and gone berserk again from his curse.

The smell of blood had reached his senses as he ran about wildly and he hurried to the source for a hunt. That was as much as he could remember and the next thing he saw was himself covered in cold sweats and blood, as well as the corpse of his victims that lied about in waste. However, to his surprise, just as he pondered just how everything had happened, he sensed a faint scent and a a very weak pulse nearby.

At first he thought he'd been found out and seen by someone from the pack whom he'd just massacred and in the fear of having the whole pack coming for his neck, he quickly reacted and moved his gaze about to find whoever it was. It was either his life or their's.

But soon he found out that his thoughts were wrong when he caught sight of someone lying on the floor with loose ropes tied around their figure and it was then that the realization of the person being a little girl whom he'd attacked and is still struggling to live dawned on him. He quickly rushed over to check on her and found her lying unconscious.

Darren was surprised that she was still alive after checking her pulse. Seeing the ghastly fresh wound on her, he felt that his premonition as to him having harmed the girl was right and he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by guilt. Although, she wouldn't be his first female victim, Darren just had this strange painful feeling of remorse in his heart seeing the girl in that state, as well as an overwhelming guilt knowing it might have been his deed.

He had carried her in a hurry all the way to his cabin with the only hope that he could save her life before it was too late. Darren was only glad that he took that decision now that he thought about it.

'Now that I've taken a closer look at the wound on her in the daylight, I do not think that is my claw mark...' He was certain that the wound dealt to her was too thin to be his claws in any way. Now that he gave a good thought to it, he had found the lady lying and tied by a loose rope right?

'Could it be that she had a fight with her pack...?' Darren thought. Then it would appear that he had actually saved her, wouldn't that be?

He found it hard to believe that he was capable of such. Afterall, that had never happened before when he went berserk. However, Darren knew from his heart that pumped and thrummed anxiously, He very well knew the truth. Afterall, his berserker curse lasts the whole night so how come he was able to regain consciousness right there in the middle of the night?