25. The night

I took a deep breath of the cold night air as I let my instincts take over. I could feel power flowing onto my muscles as vitality coursed unrestrained through me. My aura that I had been restraining for so long became unleashed as it lashed against the world. I felt free, truly and utterly free. 

It was a moment of quiet contemplation for me as I adjusted to the changes. All my senses heightened to their limit. The smell of rotten wood, dirt and the faint musk of beasts far away. The sounds of the night as well, the howling of the wind and beasts alike as well as the rustling of foliage and skittering of insects. 

My eyes adjusted to the low light letting me see everything within my range of vision with crystal clear clarity if lacking color. Above all else, the sensation of thirst and hunger that rumbled within me, a gutural need to feed. Back in the family villa it had never gotten this bad. Not like it mattered anyway, tonight I would let myself go. 

In a moment's notice I dashed away further into the forbidden forest. Guided by instinct I may be I still had enough clarity of mind to keep to my objectives. First and foremost I needed to renew my reserves of vitality. Second, I needed to test my spell and the optimisation I thought for it. 

As I dashed through the trees I found a possible prey, the scent of a beast thick in the air. It took but a scant few minutes to reach its location. I had prepared myself to pounce as soon as I got a visual. I hadn’t forgotten about my magic, my wands safely tucked away in my pockets, however using them would ruin the thrill of the hunt. 

A moment later my eyes landed on the source of the scent, a truly beautiful white mare with a horn on her head, a unicorn. I groaned in disappointment, I didn’t want to mess with the unicorns, not yet at least. I had given the thought of hunting them down some thought but in the end I decided against it. 

My plan for the unicorns consisted of somehow making a communication spell so I could speak with them. From then I would try negotiations first, should that fail… well I would think what to do then. In other words, I would live this unicorn alone. The creature in question looked in my direction unmoving, not out of fear mind you but caution. Should I make any form of aggressive move it is sure to flee. Instead, I opted for nodding to it before dashing away. 

It didn’t take long before I caught the scent of a new quarry or rather, of its blood. Curious, I continued running at super human speed through the woods. It took a moment for me to reach the place where a few doberman sized acromantulas were in the process of devouring a deer. 

A guttural growl of satisfaction escaped my lips at that moment I could feel the life force fleeing from the dead deer. Moreover, the giant spiders would be perfect test subjects for my spell. With inhuman force I pushed myself forward letting instinct and experience guid me. 

In my past life I had studied martial arts, not to perfection mind you. Even so, I could fight well enough to put some trained soldiers to shame. Add that to my superhuman physic and well. The spiders got caught by surprise as I took one by one of its legs before smashing it against another. There were three in total and with two out of the fight for the time being I got to work. 

“Eativ sitihart.” I chanted softly under my breath as I pointed my open left palm in the direction of the last acromantula. It was preparing to pounce at me when my spell took effect. Should any wizard or witch see it they would instantly mark it as a dark spell. 

A thick wispy rope of purple and green magic latched onto the creature only to start sucking out its vitality. The sight was mesmerizing as the acromantula screeched in agony, itsbody desiccating as it began aging and withering in a matter of seconds. For my part I could feel my reserves of vitality recuperating while providing a feeling of euphoria. 

My idea had worked out better than I expected. Before the efficiency dropped with distance and even when directly touching the target over half of the vitality would be lost. Now, I was getting over eighty percent of it with a meter gap from the target. Unfortunately for me, it was over much too soon. The spider died, desiccated and withered from having its life source stolen. 

I shuddered once the link broke, my instincts shouting for more and so, I obliged. By this point the other two acromantulas managed to disentangle themselves from one another, not like that would save them. I could feel a manic grin forming as I pointed my palms towards the two beasts.   

“Duo Eativ sitihart” I would need to practice it more to get to cast it chantless not like it mattered now. Instead I watched as once again the wispy purple green energy linked us together as I pulled their life away from them. That exhilarating feeling of euphoria assaulted me again as I drank away their life. Tonight will be a good night. 

Once again, the creatures died all too soon leaving me wanting more. Looking towards their very mangled dinner I scoffed. Now that I had found a veritable fount of vitality for me to feed from I would not debase myself by resorting to scavenging. 

Instead I opted to continue my hunt, though before that I had one last test to run. Pointing my left palm towards one of the trees in the area I once again chanted what was becoming my new favorite spell. Just like before the link was established and I began absorbing the tree’s life force. 

“Disappointing.” That was all I could say as the tree withered and died. The amount of vitality I managed to plunder was a pittance compared to what I could get from the spiders. I expected as much, even so, that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel disappointed from it. Not minding that, I began hunting for anew. 

Animals I would still suck dry of their blood since I had grown to enjoy the taste. The acromantulas however got the short end of the stick as I sucked them through my spell instead. Minutes turned into hours until I heard it, a loud howl one distinctively belonging to wolves. 

My mind cleared from its feeding frenzy. Like a bucket of cold water being poured directly onto my brain. I looked up only to be met with the sight of the moon. An orb of beautiful silver light giving its gentle illumination to the world. In my excitement I had forgotten to check the moon cycle. 

Not only that but I had gone rather deep into the forbidden forest. My chances of meeting werewolves were rather high at this moment. I was reluctant to leave my hunt, I had gained so much vitality in this short jaunt I was rearing for more. In the end, I hardened my resolve to leave. There would be many more nights for me to hunt, no need to be reckless. 

It was then that fate decided to spit on my resolve. My heightened senses caught the signs. The rustling of the foliage, the musk of unwashed muts. The smell of drying blood on their muzzles. The damned mutts had caught up to me. 

A moment later I converted to the side dodging the lounge from one of the ugly humanoit mutts. My predatory instincts still going strong felt insulted, I was the apex predator here. My rational mind was having a hard time taking back control from my animalistic tendencies. Especially after I had let them run wild all night long. 

With a snarl I moved far faster than any of the mutts could react. My hand curled into a fist landed a punch to the lunging mutt's ribs earning me a whining welp and it a probably broken rib. 

If I could have seen myself at that moment I would have noticed the sadistic grin spread across my face. Not only that but the eerie red glow in my eyes and how my hair was slowly but surely turning the color of blood. No, I didn’t notice any of that. Instead all I could think of was showing the damned mutts their place. 

Even so, I still kept enough of a clear mind to prioritize above all else to dodge. One bite would be all it took to riddle my life with problems I didn’t want to deal with. It is because of that that the fight got prolonged. After the first mutt a second and a third came as well. In a replica of what I did to the oversized spiders I caught one’s arm before slamming it onto the second.  

Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t use my new favorite spell right now. Too many foes, too many things to keep track of, too many risks, it simply isn't feasible to use. Instead I opted to beat them with physical trauma, lots and lots of physical trauma. 

Wolfy number four five and six came at the same time. Learning from their pack mates, instead of lunging at me and therefore becoming imobile while in mid air they kept to the ground. Five went for a swipe with its claws to my head, four the same to my legs and six opted for a bite to my torso. 

In a spectacle of gymnastics I didn’t know I could pull off I jumped sideways dodging the swipes and landing a powerful kick to six’s ugly mug. Once my fit landed back on the ground I took four’s still extended arm before breaking it onto my left knee. It was then when five went for a bit to my shoulder. 

Fun fact, werewolves do have their dangling bits turn as well as the rest of them. A mule kick to five’s family jewels stopped him in his tracks as my left elbow slammed on his chin stopping his howl of agony. The fight continued in a similar fashion as I continued to pummel the puppies senseless. Unfortunately the damned things were persistent only stopping when I killed them through blunt force trauma or I broke all their limbs. 

Once the last mutt dropped I took a deep breath to calm my heavy breathing. My body felt hot and I was sure I was at the verge of passing out from overheating, the cool night breeze doing wonders for that. As I got distracted enjoying the moment and looking towards the round silver orb we call our lovely moon I felt an uncomfortable itch on my right leg. 

Looking down to figure out what it was I felt my blood turn to ice, my pupils contracting in a split second that felt like hours. Then I felt my blood turn into a bubbling roaring inferno of pure unadulterated rage. 

“You fucking piece of fucking shit, FUCK!” I shouted as I used my left leg with all my strength to turn the head of the werewolf currently gnawing at my right leg like a chew toy into mulched pulp. The fucker had all of its limbs broken and I was sure it had been at least a meter away from me and unconscious at that a moment prior. 

Instantly my mind went into overdrive as time seemed to slow down for me. What options did I have? Would cutting the limb stop the infection? How did the infection even work? Was it biological? Magical? Both? I didn’t have enough data to make an educated guess much less a proper one, Fuck! 

It took a moment of consideration before I dropped the idea of cutting off my own leg. For starters even if I could regrow the damned thing, which I could, It would take an unholy amount of vitality to do so. That however wasn’t the main problem, no. The main problem is that I had no clue if it would work. Not only that but I would need to figure out a way to hide my missing leg from the rest of the world until I regrew it. Fuck, to make matters even worse, should it not work anyway, then I would have to problems to deal with instead of one. 

So, I would keep my leg and therefore there is a hundred percent chance I will be infected and therefore suffer from lycanthropy, fuck! Okay, think Silver, think, you are good at that. First and foremost I know I won’t be turning until next month, that much I know about werewolves. The first transformation is the worst for the werewolves as well, what else? Right! Wolfsbane potion to keep a modicum of control during the transformation. 

Looking around my eyes landed on the four still living werewolves and the two dead ones. Perfect study material if you ask her. So, I would need to start human experimentation to figure out how lycanthropy works and how to fix or reverse it. Not wasting any time I got to work dissecting both dead werewolves. One I didn’t give a shit about how the body would be by the end of it. The other I kept as unharmed as I could. 

I began taking notes on everything I could think of, organ shape, musculature, bone positioning, everything. The corpse I left somewhat unharmed I would use to check if it would turn back to human after the night was over. For the live ones, well… they wouldn’t be as lucky.

Using magic I made myself a little hidey-hole where I would keep them. I would keep the life once alive to vivisect them for study. One I would open right fucking now while keeping the shitstain alive so I could watch their organs during the transformation back into human. I won’t be able to keep them alive for next month’s transformation but I still had another three subjects and possibly more should I get to capture more of them.  

The others I would vivisect next month before the full moon to study their organs as they transformed into their wolf forms. With those plans in mind I got to work. First and foremost I made wards using all the rune and glyph knowledge I had to keep my little hidey-hole from being found. After that I placed more runs and glyphs to keep the dogos unconscious. I would need to feed them every night to keep them alive but that was a problem for later. 

By now my leg had fully healed and I felt ready to go back to the castle and collapse on my bed. Truthfully I felt like killing someone from how annoyed I felt. Even so, there was nothing to be done for the time being, at least I had learned a few things from the mutts I opened up. Specialy so from the brain I didn’t mulch. 

“What a fucking night. Let's hope tomorrow will be better.”

----A/N---

Don't you hate when them mutts slober all over yer calf, smh