Title: Deceived

Everyone likes to believe they're so different from everybody else, but none of them are as different as me. They don't have the problems I do. They can enjoy the beautiful scenery of a bright, full moon in a starry night sky without transforming into a hideous beast. I guess that’s the downside to being a werewolf. But, I think everything will be alright as long as I have her.

He looked over at her as a grin started to form on his face. He couldn’t help but smile when he looked at her. Everything about her was so perfect. The way she talked with such intellect, the way she smiled, showing her magnificently white teeth, the way she sat and watched movies…

As his sight lingered on her stunningly attractive features, his eyes scanning every characteristic of her face and curve of her body, an immense flame seemed to awaken with great force within him. He began to memorize every detail of what lay before him–the way the light from the television danced on her face, images from the screen displaying in her dark blue eyes; the way the moonlight pouring through the window created a soft glow against her chocolate-colored hair and her creamy-white skin. As she appeared more and more delicious to him, the fire inside of him intensified, flickering dangerously as his heart began to race, beating wildly against his chest. The quiet words from the television were an aid to his arousal–the sweet, romantic dialogue of a man confessing his profound love to a woman. His eyes continued to focus on her beauty as his left hand slowly crept towards the remote control. He hadn't realized that the flame burning inside of him was causing a slight transformation. His fingernails began to grow as they rested atop of the remote. The tip of his index finger pressed the red button that read "Power" over it. The television screen went black, and the only light that shone in the room was from the moon that watched over them through the window. Angelina jumped a little as the movie unexpectedly shut off. She immediately turned to Ambrose, blinking at him, confusion clearly visible on her face.

"Why did you turn off the T.V.?" she asked as her voice broke the sudden silence. He didn't respond. He only gave her a look that made her eyes widen. His expression was shrouded with passion and lust. Before she knew it, he was merely centimeters away from her face. She felt his hot, heavy breath upon her, giving her goose-bumps along her arms. For a split second, she thought she spotted his canine teeth glinting in the moonlit as they evolved into fangs. As her eyes focused on his, she couldn't help but notice, right before they closed, the moonlight shining on them seemed to make them appear a vivid green, instead of the clear-blue they normally were. Her contemplations were cut off as Ambrose's mouth met with her own. He pressed against her, and she leaned with him, her back now parallel to the couch. Their tongues wrestled vigorously, swirling in circles with ill-will grace. As Ambrose massaged Angelina's tongue with more force than she thought she could handle, he tilted his head more towards the left. A clawed hand with more blonde hair than normal growing on his knuckles slid down, caressing Angelina's curves. The fire burning deep within Ambrose was quickly transforming into a raging inferno.

Then, without warning, a cry of pain emitted from Angelina. Ambrose lifted his head up to see what had happened. Blood slowly oozed from a wound on her lip, and he watched as it trickled onto her pale neck. He raised a hairy hand to wipe the blood from his mouth, grazing his fangs. His heart sank.

“My lip!” Angelina cried as the warm steely taste of her own blood entered her mouth. She stared at Ambrose in complete horror as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, seeing the beast Ambrose was becoming. She had seen him transform before, but never on a night that wasn’t a full moon.

“I… I have to go,” Ambrose faltered as he quickly got up and scampered to the door, not waiting to hear a response. Ambrose was in a complete state of shock as he swung opened the door and ran to his car.

He somehow managed to get his car up and running before Angelina came out, and drove quickly home in discomfort, with only one clear thought running through his mind the whole way. What have I done?

He arrived home sooner than he thought he would. Fortunately for him, his parents and older brother decided to go on a mini vacation for the weekend. Ambrose normally would have agreed to go along too, but he knew it was the weekend of the full moon, and he didn’t want to take any chances. He walked unsteadily towards the entrance door and used one of the keys on his keychain to unlock and open it. The familiar smells of his house made him at ease a bit more, but not completely. He walked upstairs to his bedroom, not bothering to lock the door behind him. He became increasingly tired with each step he took. Practically dragging himself to his bed, he collapsed on it, not bothering to take off his shoes. The warm plush mattress underneath his body felt like bliss. Between the time he left Angelina’s house till now, Ambrose somehow convinced himself that nothing really happened and fell into a deep semi-peaceful sleep.

* * * * *

(^ for those who like to gaze at the stars ^)

The morning sunlight that came through the unshielded windows forced Ambrose to wake up earlier than he would have liked. He groggily placed his hands over his eyes, hoping to regain the darkness he had before the sun pried itself into his closed eyelids. As he idly wondered why the blinds were open anyway (considering he normally closed them at night), his thoughts wandered to the day before. All of what happened seemed to flash vividly through his memory in an instant.

I can’t see Angelina today. He didn’t want to face her after what he did to her the day before. Not wanting to get up yet, he continued to lie in bed, thinking over how he was going to tell Angelina he couldn’t go to her house. After a few minutes of thought, he reached over to his nightstand to get his phone. He had a vague idea what he was going to say to her in his mind as he began to dial her number.

“Hello?” Angelina said as she picked up the phone, sounding kind of distracted. She had just gotten out of the shower and was trying to find a towel so her hair didn’t drip down her back.

“Hey.” Ambrose paused for a bit, considering what to say next. “Are you busy?” He asked, trying to make slight conversation before telling her he couldn’t come over. He figured if he eased into it, she’d be less angry.

“Oh, Ambrose! I got kind of worried when you ran off last night. It seems like you’re doing better, though,” Angelina said as she grabbed a maroon towel off her floor. “Actually, I was just getting ready to go to the movie store to pick up the videos for tonight. I’ll talk to you when you get here, okay? Later.” Angelina started to put the phone back on the hook.

“Oh, wait!” Ambrose yelled, hoping she’d here him before she hung up. He didn’t want her to go to the movie store only to realize he wasn’t coming over.

Hearing Ambrose yell, she pulled the phone quickly away from the hook and placed it back to her ear once more. “Yea, what?” Angelina asked in an impatient tone. “Just tell me when you get here, okay?” Still holding the towel, she dabbed the ends of her hair, hoping to stop the dripping. She couldn’t do much more with her other hand being occupied by the phone.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you when I get there, then.” Ambrose mumbled and hung up, not waiting for a response. He wanted to tell her that he couldn’t come over, but he didn’t want her to yell at him for backing out of their plans. She was already preparing for him to come over, and Ambrose knew she wouldn’t be too happy if he did a last-minute cancellation.

Oh well. I’ll just have to make sure I leave before it gets dark. I’ll just tell her that I have to watch the house, so I can’t stay long. She’ll understand, he thought reassuringly as he started to get ready to go over Angelina’s house.

Meanwhile, Angelina busily continued to get ready for Ambrose to come over. She stared at herself in her vanity, looking at her swollen lip. She didn’t want Ambrose to feel bad about what he did to her, so she grabbed some dark red lipstick and put it on, trying to cover the cut.

The doorbell chimed in the living room, secretly telling Angelina that her guest has arrived. She looked at the lipstick for a few moments and threw it aside. “Ugh, whatever,” she mumbled as she took one last glace at herself in the mirror. She walked out of her room and answered the door.

As Angelina opened the door, the grandfather clock in the living room melodramatically greeted Ambrose with a single ‘BONG’ as the clock-handles turned into the right position.

Ambrose stood at the doorway awkwardly, his eyes fixed on Angelina’s lip. He could tell it was swollen, even with the lipstick she tried to use to cover it up. He started to regret coming, and took a step backwards, planning to go back to his car.

Angelina saw the sad depressing look he was giving her, so she forced a laugh. “Come on in!” she smiled at him and dragged him into the house before he could get away, closing the door behind them.

Ambrose, almost tripping over a stray shoe that was lying in the middle of the floor, walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. The very same couch which held terrible memories from the night before.

Angelina, unaware of Ambrose’s thoughts, pointed to the stack of movies on the coffee table. “I thought it’d be cool to have a mini movie marathon.” She smiled and headed towards the kitchen. As she opened the fridge to get some soda out, she yelled over to Ambrose, “I got a steak in the fridge for you later if you want it.”

Ambrose looked over at her and nodded “Yea, thanks.” He said in a low tone. He felt kind of bad that she wasted her money to buy him a steak that he wouldn’t even get a chance to eat. Maybe I’ll take it before I leave? Just the thought of walking over to the fridge and taking the steak out before he left made him laugh a bit.

Angelina put the sodas she took out of the fridge on a vacant space of a nearby counter as went over to the cabinets to get a plastic bowl. She placed the sodas in the bowl and walked back into the living room. She then put the bowl down on the coffee table and took the sodas out of it. “What’s so funny?” she asked as she took out an oversized bag of skittles out of the bag the movies were in. She poured them into the now-empty bowl.

“Nothing,” Ambrose replied nonchalantly, watching the skittles fall into the bowl.

“Oh, alright,” Angelina said as she looked at him questioningly. Ambrose didn’t show any emotions on his face, so she continued to talk. “I doubt mom will come today, so you can sleep over.” She frowned as she thought of what her mother was doing currently. She didn't let it distract her, though. She shook her head and continued preparing for the movie night. She took the first movie out, and looked it over. She decided to rent all the Jason movies, thinking horror would be a nice break from last night’s romance movie. The living room didn’t have cable, so the only good thing it did was play movies. She put the movie in the VCR. “Ready?” She asked Ambrose as she placed her finger over the play button.

“Sure,” he replied, still looking at the skittles. He didn’t really care for sweet things as much as he use to, but he grabbed a handful of skittles anyway to make Angelina happy.

Angelina pressed the button and the movie started. She jumped on the couch and rested her head on his shoulder. Ambrose relaxed a bit, opened a Sprite, and watched the movie.

As the sun descended and the moon shown bright in the sky, Ambrose and Angelina continued to watch the movies, only stopping in between movies to go to the bathroom and stretch their legs. In the middle of their second to last movie, the clock struck ten. At first, Ambrose didn’t really pay attention to it, but when it registered that it was ten ‘o clock, Ambrose jumped slightly.

Lying in his lap, Angelina looked up at him questioningly. “You okay?” she said through a mouth-full of skittles, returning her attention on the movie.

Sliding from underneath her, Ambrose stood up. “Yeah, it’s getting kind of hot in here. I’m going to step outside for a few minutes. Continue watching the movie, and I’ll be back soon.” Ambrose said hastily. He walked briskly towards the door and jotted outside.

“Um, okay I guess…” Angelina said, her voice getting lower with each word. She watched as the door shut behind him. She put the movie on pause and leaned her head back on the couch and sighed. “What’s gotten into him?” she thought aloud. She ran the last few days by in her head, hoping he was okay.

Meanwhile, Ambrose looked around outside and up at the sky. He realized that he could transform at any moment, so it’d be better to stay in her front yard till he did. He didn’t want her to come out and see him transforming on her deck, so he decided he’d climb a tree. He figured he could get a better view of the moon too. He found a good, sturdy tree and started to climb it. Once he reached the lowest thickest branch, he sat on it with his back against the trunk of the tree; one foot dangling idly. His foot spun in a slow circular motion, reminding him of the song Merry-Go-Round by Motley Crue.

In a low tone, he started to sing to himself. “It’s not easy puttin’ on a smile… You’re alone, lost and found… She waits at home just to love him through the night, thinkin’… He’s been gone so long now. Is he coming home? He’s been gone so long now, ohh!” Ambrose found himself howling the ‘ohh’ part instead of singing it. He hoped that Angelina didn’t here him inside the house. He continued singing the song, trying to maintain his low voice. “Merry-go round and round… merry-go round and round…” his low voice started to turn into a hum, which slowly turned into a low growl. He looked down at his foot which was rapidly spinning in circles. He stopped it, folded his legs and closed his eyes. He heard some rustling in the bushes and opened his eyes in panic. He didn’t know why, but he semi-expected Angelica to be in the bushes, looking up at him. Instead, he saw a mother doe and her baby fawn eating a late night meal. He didn’t like how they were interrupting the silence of the night, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He started to feel a little queasy, and he wondered if coming up on the tree was a good idea. He gazed up at the moon, his eyes fixed on its sphere-like appearance. It somehow seemed closer to him than normal. If the moon could look back at him, it’d see an abnormally hairy young man with piercing blue-green eyes, looking like he was dreading something that he knew would come.

Ambrose looked at his arms and saw the blonde hair that started growing out of them. “Shit,” he mumbled, quickly trying to take off his shirt. He wore his new Abercrombie & Fitch shirt to Angelina’s house, and he didn’t want to ruin it. Throwing his shirt aside, he started to unbutton his pants. He figured he’d try to save as much clothes as possible before totally transforming. And then it began…

Ambrose's pants were half unzipped when he slowly started to kneel down from pain. To minimize the risk of falling off the tree, he decided to lie down on his stomach. The branch’s harsh bark scraped against his now naked chest. His perfectly manicured finger nails started to grow into long, dark claws. His bones started to make sick splintering noises as they broke out of place. A sound similar to the noise you'd hear if you slowly broke a dry twig. The gradual hushed creaking sound as it forcefully bends to its limit and then the final snap as it breaks into two pieces. Every bone in his body was breaking and changing into a new form. It would take more than a few casts to fix him back to normal now.

As Ambrose continued to physically break outside, Angelina started to mentally break inside. She grabbed the remote and flipped off the TV. There was no point in watching the movie if Ambrose wasn’t going to watch it with her.

“Where is he?” she muttered to herself, looking over at her grandfather clock. It was a quarter past nine and Ambrose still wasn’t back from his trip outside.

He wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. He must still be outside. I should go check on him… but he told me to stay inside. What should I do? Angelina squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep frustrated tears from coming out. What if he left? What if he’s mad at me? What if he’s hurt? What if he’s dying outside right now while I’m inside just thinking about him? She stood up and rushed to the door in a state of self-induced panic.

Somewhere midway through the Ambrose’s transformation, his pain transferred into pleasure. His bones continued to pop and his muscles slowly expanded and adjusted themselves around his new skeletal frame. The pain he previously had was gone, and was replaced with a tingling sensation. His tail bone began to grow, forcing his skin to stretch out to its limit. The more it grew, the more it looked like it’d break out of his skin. Thick grayish hair started to replace the blonde hairs that poked out all over his body.

He pointed his elongated snout towards the moon. With a final snap, the transformation was done. Ambrose stared at the moon, his yellow eyes gleaming. He bayed at the moon, but not the same type of howl a wolf normally does on occasion. This was a howl for the pure sadistic pleasure that he knew awaited him.

Swinging the door open, she looked outside for Ambrose. “Ambrose, are you-” Angelina started to say, but stopped in fear. A few feet away from her, she heard Ambrose howling in full werewolf form. His appearance wasn’t what made her scared, though. It was the look he had in his eyes. His feral yellow eyes oozed with devious delight. Ambrose normally looked almost scared in his werewolf form, but not tonight. Tonight he was radiating with wickedness. “Ambr-” she started to whisper under her breath, but it was too late.

Ambrose leaped down from the tree, tackling the first thing he managed to get a hold of. His vision was clouded with sin, and things he’d normally be able to see now seemed distorted and hazy. At this moment, the lines between right and wrong seemed to disappear. Everything he had been craving to do seemed almost natural. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. The rage and fury of his inner wolf was breaking out, and there was no stopping it.

His pray fell down as Ambrose pinned it to the floor with his claws. It didn’t try to escape, and it was almost like it had accepted its fate and was waiting for everything to end. Wish granted. His teeth fastened around its neck as he shook his head from side to side, painfully killing his prey. Just killing wasn’t enough, though. He needed more… much more.

The dead body lay neatly on its side in front of him. Ambrose looked at what he had successfully killed, and was almost satisfied. Almost, but not quite. He looked at the prey’s stomach, and gave a wolfy grin. Perfect. He lunged at the stomach, and used his teeth to viciously rip open the body. The internal organs came spewing out as he continued to chew on the tender meat of the stomach. He never realized how great the taste of sin was. He grabbed another piece of flesh still attached to the body and chewed on it, enjoying the taste of fresh kill. He started moving to the arms, determined to totally maul the body apart, but then… Angelina let out a high-pitched scream of absolute terror.

“Oh my GOD, Ambrose! Why don’t you kill the little baby while you’re at it?” Angelina yelled in total shock as she looked at the mother doe Ambrose successfully disemboweled. The dear’s blood was splattered all over the place. “Hell, I’m sure Jason could take a few pointers from you! Gees, Ambrose!” she screamed as she put her hand to her mouth, trying to prevent herself from vomiting.

Ambrose looked over at her standing on the porch, and then back at the body in total disbelief. His bones began to pop and snap into a less wolf form, but not quit human. He walked over to Angelina, his shortening tail between his legs. He held his head low in total shame. He didn’t realize what he was doing. He’d never purposely kill something without a very good reason.

Angelina wrapped her arms around Ambrose’s neck and embraced him. Tears that were once locked up inside of her freely ran down her face. Ambrose rested his head on her shoulder and sighed.

Everyone likes to believe they're so different from everybody else, but none of them are as different as me. They don't have the problems I do. They can enjoy the beautiful scenery of a bright, full moon in a starry night sky without transforming into a hideous beast. I guess that’s the downside to being a werewolf. He moved his face next to her cheek and licked it lovingly. But, I think everything will be alright as long as I have her.