Chapter 3

I awoke slowly. A light throbbing of my head caused a bit of discomfort. I looked around to find myself alone in bed, daylight shining through the window. I could hear the faint sounds of birds through the glass. It was very auspicious, given the nature of events that had transpired last night. As memories filled my mind of everything that had happened, tears began to fall freely down my face. My friends, my love and her family all gone. Taken by that black monstrosity in a binge of carnage and blood. The visions of what that thing did to Violet - violating her like that - kept replaying in my mind. How she enjoyed what had been done to her so violently. How the beast looked me in the eye the whole time it defiled her until it had its fill and bit her head off in one big bite. The sight of her lifeless body crashing to the floor and the sounds the beast made as it chewed. A wave of nausea hit me, and it took all my willpower not to vomit all over the floor. I let out a wail of pain at all I had, lost and banged my hands against my now useless legs.

My tears were stopped abruptly from the burst of pain that radiated along my thighs, where I had slammed my fists into them. The beast had rendered my legs useless by its bite to my back. I should not have felt that. As I was contemplating that, my door burst open with Violet, Liza and Trina entering, frantic. I sat dumbfounded, trying to grasp what was going on and how they could be alive.

“H ... how are you alive? The beast killed all of you last night. I had to watch in horror as it killed everyone I love.”

The three girls rushed over and threw their arms around me. All three uttering murmurs of assurance and comfort. Violet was the first to release me and sit back on the bed.

“Silly man, we are all fine. What makes you think that we were harmed or killed by anything? The blood moon came and went without anything happening.”

I told them the what had happened as I recalled it. Liza and Trina had gone quite pale when I described what I had seen happen to them. They both were holding each other when I had finished telling the events in the dining area. I then continued and told them of the carnage I had found and the state of our friends as I had made my way to the town. Tears were streaming down all our faces by the time I reached the final act of my story. As I told of how I found Violet’s family, she began to visibly shake. I stopped and tried to comfort her, but she told me to finish the story. With great trepidation, I continued and told her of what the wolf did to her. I had tried to be vague, but she would not have it. So, I gave her what she wanted and told every grizzly detail right up to her head being bitten off.

All three of the girls left the room, each looked like they were about to spill the contents of their stomachs. As I watched them flee, I could not help but feel terrible for telling them what had happened. I still could not believe it had only been a dream. Never had I ever had a dream feel so vivid and realistic. Not even my dreams of Violet, which were rather explicit, did not ever feel as real as that nightmare had. I pondered this a while, trying to make sense of it, when I felt a set of eyes on me. I looked up to find Violet standing there looking at me. She was a little less pale and had that warm smile that always put me at ease. She came over and sat on the bed beside me, her fragrance filling my senses. While it would normally give me a sense of calm, now, it flashed images of the beast having its way with her as she moaned in pleasure. I had to shake the images out of my mind, which caused her smile to falter.

I looked back up to her and said, “I am sorry, my love, I could not help a flash of that dream filling my head with disturbing images. I had to shake them loose.”

Her smile faltered, as even more, a wave of concern flashed across her face. She pulled me gently into a warm embrace, my head placed on her ample bosom. We stayed like that for a little while, enjoying the contact of one another and allowing us to ease the thoughts that were disturbing us. I was reluctant to let go, as I felt her arms released me from their tender embrace. She grabbed my hands and gently pulled me out of the bed. For a moment fear gripped me as I believed that I would fall to the ground because of my useless legs. Once I felt the hard wood pressing into the bottom of my feet, the silly fear left me. Still holding my left hand, Violet guided me downstairs to our waiting friends below.

The sounds of my friends in rapt discussion emanated from the dining room and put me more at ease with each voice I could pick out. As we entered the room, the talking stopped, leaving only silence. Everyone looked at me with understanding or concern, and it filled me with shame. No doubt, the girls had filled them in on the story I had told them, but that was not my only source of shame. My actions leading up to the blood moon had been beyond the pale. I had disregarded the council of my friends and loved ones. I went against the advice of the healers charged with my care and fixated on the fears that had taken hold of me. All those fears and rage resulted in the dark, haunting dream that had nearly destroyed my mind. Despite all the foolish actions and reactions, to their attempts to help me see past all the foolish ideas, that clouded my mind. Despite the anger, rage and vehemence that I unleashed on them, they were all still there and all still supported me and worried about me.

I dropped to my knees and begged their forgiveness for how I had wronged my friends. They all told me not to dwell on it, as they would not. Without delving into details, each expressed that they had also been controlled by their fear and by loss. They knew that once the blood moon had passed without incident, that I would see how foolish I had been.

Violet helped me up and everyone came up, one at a time, to shake my hand. They accepted my apology as I shook each hand. The girls, of course, would not settle for anything less than a hug from me. Their support meant everything, and I made sure to tell them all.

I put on a smile and said, “well now that we have established how big of a fool I have been, let us sit and eat.”

A chorus of agreement followed, and we all took our seats. My apprentices regaled me of their day, what they had accomplished. They were coming along in their training quite well and I was astounded at the ingenuity they showed. A flash of memory hit me, and I recalled the expressions of shock and amazement at the things I created that had changed how their jobs were done. I knew they would do well and once I had given them enough tools of both the body and the mind, they would be ready to strike out on their own. The girls regaled us with the status of their gardens. They were all coming along nicely, providing bountiful yields. Those yields were split between our use and sale. Ruben chimed in at that point to say that, after a meeting with the Merchant’s council, their food stand had been approved. They would pay ten percent of their sales, five would go to the council for the operation of their stand, the other five would go to the town. The girls were happy to pay it, as they felt the returns would be high enough that the cost would not do much harm.

The boys told of their patrols, and of their hunts. There were not many people coming around the property, those who did wanted to see if I was doing any better. While there was a portion of the town that felt I was a murderer who killed their Patron, an even bigger number were in support of me. I could not understand how people would blame me, when there were fifteen to twenty-five witnesses that night. All of them seeing that the wolf, once killed, had reverted to Brant. I said as much, and everyone agreed that they could not understand it. as well. Ruben explained the rumors that were coming from the Brant supporters. That I was a sorcerer and used magic to make him a wolf to justify killing him. That I had replaced the dead wolf’s body with Brant’s when no one looked. Each became more preposterous than the next.

Violet took her turn next, letting us all know how things were going with her mother and their patients. Almost all the victims from the last attack, those that had survived, were doing well and almost completely recovered. One patient, however, was proving to be troublesome and not listening to her. She made a point to stare at me when she said this, causing everyone in the room - other than me - to begin laughing in earnest. I blushed slightly and joined in laughing, which caused Violet to giggle as well.

Once the talk was out of the way, we dug into the food the girls had made. A hearty venison stew, with roasted corn and fresh baked bread. The stew had thick meaty chunks, with no hint of fat. The flavor it gave, told me this was the more tender meat, as the taste was much more robust. There were potatoes, carrots, turnips and rice mixed in, giving it a flavorful mix of taste and texture. I could not make out all the spices they used, but it was earthy and fresh. I could see the girls looking on to everyone to see how they liked it. This was the case with any new recipe they concocted and so far, none had disappointed.

Once the meal was over, I bade my friends a good night, and made my way to bed. Violet, of course, was there alongside me, carrying that gods-forsaken tonic. I got into bed, plugged my nose and gulped down the sludge. I then spent a few minutes fighting the urge to retch it back up. I laid back, joined at my side by Violet and soon felt the effects of the medicine putting me asleep. I do not remember if I dreamt anything, and I had no memory of one occurring. However, I once again awoke to find myself with a partner, the blond trusses told me that Liza was my bed mate this time. The warmth of her body was palpable, as her back seemed pressed into me. The scent of her skin was only slightly fragrant, smelling of wild flowers. As I became more aware, I realized I had woken up in a slight predicament.