"No! Please!" the girls voice rang out again, as if doing so would change anything this time.
"You call yourself a daughter?" he hit her again, on the face instead of the arm this time.

She had accidentally broken a cup while making dinner for her step-father. Her mother did nothing to help, like always, and just cowered from him and soaking up the gladness that it wasn't her body he was hitting this time. The girl's name was Delilah, she was just one year shy of moving out and starting a new life, but she didn't know if she could take it any longer. Her father died when she was five, and her mother has been with many men, but for eight years this was one that didn't leave soon after they found out she had kids. He turned out to be abusive, in more ways than one, and her mother was too weak to be left alone again.

So that was her life for now. She didn't know what to do or where to run, she felt helpless. Then it hit her, Where to run? she thought to herself one night after being disturbed by the sick man, Just run. Delilah promised herself that if it ever happened again, she would save herself.

The nearby woods were enticing, the trees making it like a moonless, starless night. The undergrowth was thick, but was crisscrossed by game trails. Among the shadows was an apex predator, five feet tall at the shoulder. Overall the beast's appearance was a hybrid of a wolf and hyena... but something about it seemed... human.

At the end of a tough working day, Delilah finally goes to her room. She pretends to sleep, just closing her eyes and using her heartbeat to keep track of time. After long, grueling minutes, she slips out of bed. In the silent of the night she packs a satchel of clothes for a week and a water bottle. Her house, though, is a two-story one. How she curses this. Delilah weighs the options: risk her life making a rope out of sheets, or risk it by sneaking out the front. Since sneaking through would both hurt and cause a lockup, the window was looking great.

She tied her bed sheets together, and then to the bed and looked out into the night. With a deep breath she looked back into her room and said her goodbye to mother and brothers. At once she began her descend before she could change her mind about leaving. When she came to halfway down the second sheet, she felt a jolt- the tie between the sheets had slipped. Panicked, she scrambled upward, which only caused the sheet to slip through. The girl's body landed on the ground, injuring her ankle, but thankfully leaving her conscious.

He could smell it: fear, desperation traveling on the wind. Normally that would set off dinner bells in his head. However the scent was human. Female, perhaps no older than twenty years of age. His curiosity was piqued-- after all if a girl was frightened of something to the degree her pheromones suggested, something bad was happening. He abandoned his normal hunting area and went closer to the town than he normally would.

He stopped near the treeline, invisible save for his glowing green eyes. Something was very wrong.

Delilah groaned at the throbbing in her foot, but she had made it this far, it would be stupid to turn back over a sprained ankle. She hobbled out behind the house, making steadfastly toward the treeline when a light flooded the area. Someone had turned on the outside house light, regardless of who it was, she couldn't be seen by them. She dropped to her hands and knees and then to her elbows, doing a type of army crawl toward the woods. If she could just make it into the thicket, into the masking of the trees...
"Anybody out here?" she heard the gruff, slurred voice call out. Her stepdad. This only urged her to press on faster, she struggled to keep her silence. "Alright..." he headed back in, but left the light on. She was about halfway there when she saw her sister's room light flick on. At this point, she was practically running through the ground, the sweat and pain building inside her. She had to make it, just a little farther...

Her room light flickered on. In a moment's decision, she halted and lay flat and unmoving in such a way that she could pass for a log. She saw a shadow appear in the square of light out from her, "Dammit!" the shadow moved away quickly, "Meredith, Delilah has done gone and ran away!" he stomped through the house. She knew for sure he was headed to grab his gun, boots, and possibly truck. Once she checked the window once again, she bolted, scrambling on however many places over her body would will her forward. She knew that now it was serious, and deadly.

That settled it. He ran after the girl, but not to attack; his purpose was to follow. The girl wasn't what he was after... it was the man coming after her. His scent was just right, precisely what he required. But he had to slow the girl down so that he could catch up. He loped on ahead, blocking the game trail she was following. Fur bristling in anticipation, he waited.

She made her original goal-passing the treeline. Although in the grand scheme, it wasn't much, she saw it as a large feat. Panting, she stood again to catch her breath easier while still being able to work her way through. She pressed on with one goal in mind: Get away from him.

Meanwhile, Delilah's stepdad was doing exactly as she thought. Her mom fussed, finally standing up after it was too late, when she saw the gun,
"I ain't gonna shoot her, it's to ward off anythin' that's comin' after her" he assured her mother. He climbed up in his truck and turned over the engine after a few tries.

He waited, crouched low to the ground. She was closer now, almost in reach. His goal was close to being achieved. As the girl neared he pounced, pinning her to the ground. His goal wasn't to maim her, to kill her. A ray of moonlight revealed his face: a wolflike snout, ears pointed, canine teeth elongated. His fur was jet black, but his emerald eyes were eerily human.

But he covered her mouth with a pawlike hand. Then... he spoke: "Stay here. Stay hidden. Stay silent. He dies now."

Delilah let out a squeak before the hand-paw covered her mouth. She didn't know who this guy was, or if she was sure she wanted her stepdad dead, but if he left she might be able to slip by...
Mid-thought, the moonlight shone through the trees, revealing his face. It was a crooked mixture of nightmares and canines, one that caused her heart to thud inside of her chest. This night was absolutely horrifying, and quite possibly the worst one yet.
She just nodded, eyes wide, and gulped down her seemingly thick saliva.

He moved his hand away, let her up. He placed a hand-paw on his chest. "I am a friend." He spoke slowly, struggling to form words. "He dies soon. Scream. Make him come quicker." He showed no interest in Delilah, only her stepfather. He stepped back into the darkness, his eyes glowing. "I'll kill him."

She tried to believe him, he seemed honest, but it was hard to trust. At the moment, it seemed that either A) He was actually going to kill her stepfather rather than her or B) Want to kill them both. Well, even if I'm going down, he's coming too she thought with an evil snarl. She knelt to the ground to look injured, which she was, and screamed as if she were in pain.

The man thrust his car through the yard, tearing up the grass as he turned his high beams on. At the edge of the forest he hopped out and slung his gun over his back, "Delilah! I swear, if you don't come out this instant, I'll have your hide!"
She humored him by letting out another scream, "No! Not again!" she plead, crawling through the brush to give him an idea of where she was at.
He stumbled after her and shook his fist, "You brat! Why I outta beat you silly!" he caught a glimpse of the girl lying pitifully on the ground. In his inebriated state he plundered after her outline, "You'll be grounded for a year!" he headed in her direction.
Delilah turned to see him stumbling strait for her, like some kind of zombie. If the wolf-thing doesn't act, I might be able to trick him well enough in his drunken state... she thought to herself while eyeing the strange, furry company.

He was on Delilah's stepfather in a heartbeat, receiving a gunshot wound to the shoulder. But that didn't stop the beast. Enraged, he swatted the weapon away before slashing the man's stomach open with his claws. As he screamed in agony the wolf-thing went for the kill, tearing his throat out. Bloody, holding his arm up to keep from hurting his shoulder, he watched as her stepfather drowned in his oen blood. He managed to growl out, "You'll be safe."

Satisfied he began limping away into the darkness. The ammunition hadn't been silver or wolvesbayne, but a werewolf could be killed through blood loss, or other means.

Delilah shook visibly, watching the blood and steaming everywhere. She was frozen in her spot, if anything she was backing away against a tree. The "You'll be safe" didn't comfort her at all. She felt terrible, even though this man caused her so much pain every day, he wasn't all bad. He made her mother happy...and he was still a human. As the creature left, she crawled up to where he was, "I-I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." she felt like a killer. She let this happen, she helped it. She sunk into his chest, coating herself in the blood of the man who was unable to respond, "I don't want this..." her chest felt empty.

He snorted in disgust. "This man hit you... beat you... was going to kill you... and you still mourn his passing?" The wolf-creature seemed perturbed at Delilah. He shook his head. "It was a regular wolf that killed him. You never saw me, I don't exist." He began limping away, injured arm held up to his chest. That hadn't been birdshot in the gun, but a slug, a giant chunk of metal intended to kill big game. If the girl had been shot in the head, neck, or chest she'd be dead. He slowed.

"But I suppose I can thank you," he said, just loud enough for Delilah to hear. "I'm one step closer to achieving my goal." He started limping away again, slightly dizzy from blood loss.

Delilah knew he was right, but it still felt so wrong. She believed there could be good in anyone, even if this wicked man would have never changed. She felt confused and conflicted, really she didn't know what to do. She nodded as he limped away, still fuzzy in the brain, then heard something about him being one step closer. She didn't bother with asking what he meant by that, as he was already a distance away.

She hadn't noticed her mother running toward them until just now as she fell to her knees beside her stepfather's body. Her mom screamed "How could this happen?" into his chest and rocked back and forth. She just looked at the two. Did her mom really not know what he was going to do? Delilah didn't know if it would be a good thing or a bad thing if her mother knew. After some more crying, her mother's shaky fingers dialed the police on her cell phone.

The police came and took pictures, taped off the area, and put him into a bag. They said a wild animal, most likely a wolf, killed him. They asked why he was in the forest and before Delilah could say anything, her mother piped up, "He saw an animal and tried to scare it away with his truck, then he tried to shoot it to protect my daughter here" Her mothers hands gripped her shoulders, it felt wrong and gross. She could tell her mother was lying, "She was outside catching fireflies when the wolf attacked."

Delilah wished she had slipped away before the beast killed him, so she wouldn't be stopped by the whole scene. Now, not only would there be police watching her house, but her mother would be on watch. She needed a new escape attempt, and it had to be more thought out. Inside, she thanked the strange beast, he had given her rest from the pain, even if it were only replaced by a different pain.

He made his way to his den-- a natural cave, the entrance only just big enough for him yo fit through. Inside was quite different from what anyone would expect: a large cushion, almost like a dog's, but larger, next to the coals of a fire. And then he stood upright, kindling the fire back to life. He took a pair of crude tweezers from a bag in the corner, gritted his teeth, and stabbed them in.

He managed to dig the slug out, but not without loosing a howl that bordered on a roar. No doubt it would be heard for miles around. There would be law enforcement looking for him. But yet, something told him to go back to the girl. It wasn't something in his brain, but an instinct. While his kind was intelligent enough to push instincts down, he felt he couldn't.

"You're too damn nice, Amaroq," he growled at himself as he took off towards Delilah's home.

Delilah used the police to her advantage, as her mother was busy with them, she slipped to the other side of the house. She was stopped by her 5-year-old brother standing at the door, "Sissy, why do you have blood on you? Are you okay?" he looked worried. The police had given her a new shirt and wiped off her face, but there was still blood on her arms. The look on his face broke her heart, how could she leave him? He would surely be beaten by her mother's next boyfriend, have to suffer though his mother drinking and taking up drugs again after the death of her "lover."

She knelt down and looked him in the eyes one last time, "There are some things you wont understand, Seth, sometimes confusing things happen. But no matter what happens, you stay strong, okay? You just have to make dreams of your own and follow them with every beat of your heart. Look at me, " she wanted to make sure this memory stuck out in his head, "I love you more than anything, and I will never..." leave you she wanted to say, "Stop loving you." then opened her arms for a hug

He looked at her a little confused but nodded, "I love you too," then wrapped his arms around her. She fought her tears by clenching her jaw. She wanted to take both of her siblings with her, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to find shelter for all of them, she wouldn't be able to keep them all safe, and she surely couldn't feed them. It would be selfish of her to drag them through this journey, so she let them go.

"Tell Trevor I love him too, okay?" she pulled back and looked into his eyes.
"Where are you going?" he looked at her bag.
She sighed, thinking. "I'm going on an adventure. I'm going to fight big, scary monsters and look for treasure. I would take you, but there's an age limit. I'll come back and get you both later, but for now I have to go on alone" he had sparkles in his eyes, his imagination probably taking over. She hoped one day he would look back and realize it was a metaphor. Suddenly he hugged her again, tighter.
"I don't want you to go..." he said, muffled into her shirt.
"I know..." she patted his back, "Me either..."

And with that she kissed him on the head and told him to tell nobody of her secret adventure. She waved him goodbye and headed out into the other part of the forest.

There was a plethora of new scents since the attack: officers and their guns, their dogs, people who had been awakened by the lights and sirens... all things that Amaroq knew to avoid in this state. But he had a certain scent memorized, and was quickly moving in. He had to be careful in his approach. Yes, he'd saved her life, but if he gave the wrong impression, she'd leave, maybe going to the cops. His wound had stopped bleeding, thanks to the moss he'd used.

Amaroq followed Delilah's scent, surprised that she was going deeper into the forest. There wasn't anything that would attack her to his knowledge, but Mutts had a tendency to escape detection until it was too late.

She pressed on through the other side and found a trail. She was torn between following it because it could lead somewhere, or doing the opposite to avoid conflict. She remembered the strange beast once again, he had helped her, and not harmed her. He even said he would make sure she was safe. She thought that this trail might be one that he used, or would at least be able to find her more easily on it.

Delilah chose to take the path, keeping in mind to look out for anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't sure why she trusted that thing, maybe it was because he saw her stepfather as he truly was. Maybe it was because he knew his way found the forest, so there was a chance she could get away quickly. Maybe it was because he had shown her compassion, in his own way, that she hadn't seen in a long time.

Amaroq found her easily, but stayed just out of sight. For such a big creature he moved almost silently. He sized Delilah up silently. He wondered what would bring her here. Was her home life troubling without the man he'd killed? If her other caretaker had the same soul as the man...

He stopped, shaking his head. No. To kill both parents might kill her. Amaroq finally spoke, "What brings you into the woods?"