The Lone Wolf Finds His New Pack, Kilu’s Story

Me and Shizu called the others back to our usual club room in the library. Shizu told everyone how we got approved. The shock of it was definitely real.

"BUNNY?!"

Reira, Nero and Iris literally shouted in unison over hearing how we lied about using Bunny as a test subject. Though looking at their faces, they seemed just as disturbed as me and Shizu.

"That's creepy for real..."

"Why was she even in the conversation about our club?! Seems more like an unadulterated sacrifice!"

"I know right! The freak said he was more interested in us experimenting on the others instead of the whole song and dance we went through!"

"Goddammit! I really hope Bunny forgives us for doing this. I honestly just said the first name that came to mind, and of course Yuki fucking went for it!"

As Nero, Reira, Shizu, and I openly voiced our concerns over the matter, Iris calmly smoothed back his hair and sighed.

"Well, I think Shizu made the right choice."

We all gawked at him in surprise, when Reira spoke up.

"Iris, what the hell?! Are you actually serious?"

"Honestly…when you find yourself in a bind, you'll use any means to get out of the situation. Even if you have to use a friend as bait."

I was aware that when I first came to the school, Iris had an uncanny attitude about many things. Even before Shizu came, Iris was very distant, and he would always sneak off somewhere alone. I hardly could get a word in with him even though we were both 118 years old. It's possible that his experience with getting arrested in various states in the U.S. is to blame.

But for real, Iris can be seriously scary sometimes. Maybe it's best that Shizu doesn't get too close to him.

"Iris, that's really cold, you know..."

"And that's why you're not the leader!!"

Nero and I finally said something to break the tension in the room. Then, Shizu called us back to his attention. He was pretty good at steering us all back on topic. That's what made him so cool!

"Alright everyone, let's get back to business here! Now that we have the cover for VBOC, we need to devise a plan of escape. Our next mission should be to choose either sea or sky."

Nero and Reira looked at each other, seeming a little confused. Iris looked like he was reading a book, while I gave Shizu my full attention. I was eager to hear what he had to say. Shizu started writing on the chalkboard that was behind him. He wrote down the two methods of escape and started giving an explanation.

"For the sea, there are ships that come to port here in order to provide supplies during the day while we're in class. As for the sky, I found out that Yuki uses a jet to travel back to Tokyo for governmental conferences. So, these seem to be our only options for now."

"That makes sense! Way to go Shizu!"

"Heh, well I had to ask Lau and Lucile about it first to make sure. Especially since they've been here the longest."

"So, in other words, we have to choose between stealing a ship or hijacking Yuki's jet."

"Exactly! Though I'm not sure how often Yuki goes back to the mainland. I think Lau mentioned they've seen him leave at a couple different times."

"Hmm, I think the ships come here fairly often since we need food and certain necessities. Also, the scientists gather their testing material from them too. Maybe we should just go with the ships!"

Shizu and I nodded towards each other in agreement, when Reira raised her hand as if to be called on.

"I'm not so sure about that. There's still some risk of the video cameras. You can bet the scientists were intelligent enough to have video feeds of the port as well."

"Though Yuki's jet would be a bit more accessible, we'd probably run into issues with the pilot, correct?"

Iris looked up from his book as he added that in. Reira tapped her finger on her cheek as if she was considering Iris' comment.

"I guess if we were to confront the pilot, none of us would know how to get the jet in the air. I don't really fancy crappy boats unless it's a luxury cruise, so it makes me wonder."

"What's the matter, you scared of the water? I hear that some witches like you melt if they get wet, heh."

"Shizu, did you hear something? Or was there a breeze blowing from the window?"

Reira turned her head slightly as if ignoring what I just said. I sighed kind of expecting that reaction. Reira arrived at the school along with Nero a few years ago. Even though I did my best to be friendly, she would always brush me off. There was one time that I asked her about her age, after accidentally looking at her school profile that was sitting out on Cleo's desk. The age part was mysteriously blank, so I carelessly questioned her directly, and she became furious with me and avoided me for 4 months. After that, I tried giving her a pair of black bows with dark blue lace on them as an apology to smooth things over the misunderstanding. And I clearly remember what she said to me that day.

"Ahh, so you get excited from fucking younger girls then? Just thinking how you may have drooled imagining me wearing these bows, makes me sick! Drop dead you pedo-wolf!"

Even though she had the nerve to still snatch the box from my hands and take it with her, I've never seen her wear those bows once. And she's trying to ignore me when I'm sitting right next to her?

I honestly don't know what's wrong with this bitch.

"Reira, could you please not start anything right now. We still need to figure out which method to go with."

Shizu then interjected to try to diffuse the awkwardness surrounding everyone in the room.

"Hmph, well in that case, what if we use the wolf boy to cause a distraction for the sailors? Then we sneak on board while he gets chased down!"

"Ah...Reira, I'm still in the room, you know."

"Oh! Maybe they can use a harpoon and make wolf sashimi!"

"You really want me to die, don't you?"

Even though Shizu did what he could, Reira kept up the act when Iris spoke up again.

"That's not going to work. Even if we had Kilu cause some kind of commotion, the cameras could still record the entire area. It'd be better if I hacked into the cameras and replaced the video with a dummy recording."

"Then, let's go with that! If Iris can hack into the cameras, Kilu and I can take care of the crew members. Though of course without devouring them."

"Sounds awesome to me! I learned a thing or two at this old dojo a while back on how to knock out your opponent for a bit of time."

"Alright! Let's hammer out a few more details then…"

Shizu pulled out a few books that he gathered from the library. Looking at a couple of them they had maps of the school grounds including the port. He started to discuss some more details on how we would go about the plan.

I was honestly so amazed with Shizu's confidence. Ever since he came here, he easily brought us all together for VBOC. Shizu reminds me of my younger self when I was travelling with a wolf pack out of certain circumstances.

Heh, I gotta say I'm a bit jealous but I'll support him as much as I can. Especially, since no one was ever there for me for a very long time….

That's when I stared out the small window in the room and drifted into my memories of my past.

                                                                             ★

A very long time ago, when I was 8 years old, my family was literally torn asunder. My father was the chief of a small human colony in Africa, and he was a vicious Body Stealer. He would constantly terrorize the villagers, including my mother, so to keep everyone in order through fear. However, when a group of foreign settlers came to the local tribes, the villagers gathered weapons from them and finally overtook my father and killed him. Soon after that, my mother requested a boat from the same people. She made the excuse that she wanted to escape the colony in order to protect me. Even though I was still unaware of my power, she said that the villagers would kill me and her if we stayed. So, we traveled very far away by sea. When we reached land, we continued to travel north by foot.

We kept going and going, hardly ever stopping for food and rest. I kept asking her, how far we'd have to go but instead of an answer she clutched my hand tightly and kept walking. Finally, we arrived at a large forest that was completely covered in white fluff that I've never seen before. It was cold but kind of refreshing from the blazing heat in Africa. It was called snow, and while I wandered a little in it with my horribly worn shoes, I finally figured out the seasons must have changed when we traveled all this way. Then, I turned to my mother who called me to come back towards her. She knelt down as I hugged her. I felt just so tired and hungry, but I was happy to still be alive. At least that's what my naïve self was thinking for a few still moments….

"Kilu, what your father did to the village was a great sin to all humankind. So, we must both pay the price from your father's bloodshed."

It didn't quite hit me on what she meant, until she steadily made her way past me to the edge of a cliff. I ran towards her in a panic, thinking that I'd lose her forever if I didn't do something. She turned towards me and spoke in a soft but meek voice.

"You're a monster Kilu, so you must remain here to die."

That's when I stopped in my tracks and stared at her with an eerie disbelief. I wanted to scream but the strong frozen wind would have blocked it out.

"And as punishment for giving birth to a vampire, I will leave you here. May God have mercy on you, my child."

She fell backwards down the cliff and disappeared from my sight. I collapsed to the ground and cried helplessly. I was so tired and terribly hungry but yet I cried as I felt like the very sky just fell. The winds continued to howl as I couldn't think of what to do next.

                                                                               ☾

I couldn't remember how many hours passed when the wind became silent, and the moon lit up the night sky. I somehow managed to crawl to a tree that bore nothing on its scraggly branches but more snow. My eyes burned with tears and my throat was burning from the frigid air.

Am I really going to die? Did she tell me I was a monster so I could disappear like her?

Why?

Awful thoughts bled through my mind, when I heard a soft growl from a little bit of distance away. A grey animal with bright fangs, sharp claws, pointy ears, and dark eyes, was approaching me. I moved further back into the tree, as the grey wolf was ready to attack.

I'm actually going to die.

This wolf is going to kill me...

What can I do? What should I do?

I don't want to die. I don't want to die!

A sudden surge of heat went through my hands, and they transformed into large shadowy claws. And when the wolf launched itself at me for the kill, I slashed at its face reflexively. The wolf staggered backwards, whimpering for I scratched its nose and its eyes. I looked at my claws, and the blood gradually was absorbed into my body. I experienced the rush of mana energy consumption for the first time in my life.

Why should I die because I was supposedly born a monster?

It's not fair.... that’s NOT FAIR!

And as quickly as the wolf turned to run away, my claws entrapped its body and I devoured it. I took every ounce of the wolf's energy, and my claws crushed the body so thoroughly that the corpse only looked like a mangled lump of fur and bones. My shadowy claws reverted back to my hands, and my mind began analyzing the DNA of the wolf I finished off.

I can use this! Just like how my father changed into another person. I can change into another creature.

And surely enough I fell on my hands and feet, while my body transformed into the grey wolf. I became a fearsome predator of the forest, and slowly learned how to hunt more animals. I found that sometimes when I had an urge of blood lust, I would devour a couple deer here and there. However, it was easier for me to remain in the form of a wolf.

As a few seasons had passed, I became more and more familiar with the forest. It was in the middle of autumn, when I found a snow white wolf confronting a black bear in the middle of a clearing. It looked like the wolf's hind leg was injured but it kept challenging the bear to back down.

This bear must have entered the wolf's territory…

I watched the bear rise to its full height as it roared ferociously at the wolf. At that point the bear could've killed it, but I rushed in and attacked the bear from behind. I ripped at its neck and jumped in front of the snow wolf to separate them both. The large black bear retreated realizing it was outmatched. Once it vanished in the other direction, the snow wolf came close and nuzzled me gently in gratitude. I got a better look at the snow wolf as their wolf pups came out from the bushes nearby.

This snow wolf…is a female. And by the looks of these pups, she must be their mother.

It took me a few minutes when she began to speak in her natural tongue, to understand what she was telling me. I finally gathered that she was actually an Omega, and she had a pack of her own along with her pups. She offered me to stay with her pack as a favor for saving her life. I took the offer and traveled with her through various lands. Generally, wolves never stayed in one place because they were nomadic animals. They always went wherever they could find food. Over the years of being in the pack, the Omega still treated me like one of her pups, but I didn't particularly mind it. It felt nice being a part of her family.

However, the realization of me still being a stranger to the other wolves slowly became more and more apparent. They went from keeping a small distance to regularly avoiding me in between hunting and meal time. It was almost like the others knew I wasn't a wolf, like them. I wasn't the same as their kin and so they all avoided me except the Omega. I even began to think that she wasn't interested in mating with me because I wasn't a normal wolf or more accurately, I wasn't a wolf at all. I was a monster.

But that still didn't stop me from protecting the pack. During our travels, I courageously battled other wild beasts that became our enemies as competition for food increased. I used my natural instincts as well as my own powers to overcome every opponent we faced. Despite the coldness of most of the wolves, the Omega greatly appreciated my help in their survival.

Then, one day we came to a small town where I saw people for the first time in about 10 years. The snow wolf noticed my curiosity and howled her song, as if to say:

Kilu, go find the others like you and form a new pack.

After I left the wolves and got adopted into another family of vampires, it became so long since I last saw the snow white Omega. I was sure she perished a few years later due to old age. But I never forgot our time together. Her warmth was equal to or even greater than any other parent I would have for years to come.

                                                                             ★

"Kilu? Hey, Kilu?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and saw that Shizu was trying to get my attention.

"A-ah! Sorry about that…"

"What's up? You were spacing out while I was trying to talk to you."

Everyone else also looked at me with a bit of concern.

"Are you okay Kilu?"

"Shizu was incessantly shouting at you for the past 30 seconds."

"I was not! And how in the hell did you time that, Iris?"

"Yeah, wolf boy, is there something you want to tell us?"

Nero, Iris, Shizu and Reira looked at me curiously awaiting my answer. I smiled gently and shook my head.

"No, there's nothing wrong. I was just thinking about an old friend."

"Just a friend huh?"

"Who was it?"

"That smirk on your face begs a different description."

"No, I'm being honest here! Though I'll never see her again. She'll always remain within my heart."

"...."

Shizu grinned, while Nero suddenly lit up, shooting more questions at me. Iris sighed in exasperation as if he wanted the meeting to be over. And all the while, I didn't notice Reira left the room until an hour later when Shizu dismissed us. The plan to escape was to be executed tomorrow.

I really hope that old bat won't mess things up.