The Cursed Bloodline

I had always thought the stories my grandmother told were just mere stories. Tales meant to keep a restless teenager from wandering too far into the forest or staying out past sunset. But that very night, as I stood under the brittle glow of the full moon, a cold crept up my spine, spinning around my heart and squeezing tight. The whispers began again and it was soft like the rustling of leaves.

"Mia, come on!" Jess called, her voice breaking through my trance. She waved at me from the frontage of her house, her smiles wide and warm. "You're looking at the woods like you're waiting for Bigfoot to show up."

"Yeah," I said, tearing my eyes away from the dark stretch mark of the trees. I forced a smile, ignoring the itch beneath my skin that hadn't stopped since the night before.

The bonfire crackled in the yard, surrounded by half the senior class laughing and swapping stories. The night was cool, perfect for one of our last gatherings before graduation scattered us to the wind. Jess gave me a drink, eyes sparkling mischievously.

"So, what's up with you?" she asked, nudging me. "Why staring like you've seen a ghost."

I opened my mouth to tell her about the strange dreams, the ones where I was running, the wind against my fur, the taste of the hunt sharp on my tongue but I had to stop myself. No one needs to know that. Not even Jess.

"Just tired," I lied. "School's been a lot."

She rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. But hey, you're coming to the lake party next weekend, right? Last hurrah and all that?"

"Yeah, I won't miss it."

But even as the word left my mouth, the whispers came again, louder this time. Come home, they seemed to say. Come find us.

I startled, the cup slipping from my hand and pouring sticky liquid down my wrist.

"Mia? You okay?" Jess frowned, her playful expression fading.

Before I could answer, a scream split the night air. My heart jumped into my throat as everyone turned toward the woods. A deep growl followed, so low and fierce it made my bones tremble.

"What was that?" someone whispered.

"An animal?" another voice offered, more uncertain than confident.

The world became slow as I glanced into the tree line, and for a few seconds, I swore I saw a pair of eyes staring back at me, golden and stable. Then, as if I had stepped into a waking nightmare, the whispers increased, this time banging in my head.

Run, Mia. Run to us.

Before I knew what was happening, my feet started moving on their own, carrying me toward the woods.

"Mia, stop!" Jess shouted behind me, but her voice sounded far away, muffled by the thrumming in my ears.

The world around me blurred as I sprinted deeper into the dark, the ground damp beneath my shoes. The forest felt alive, like it was watching, holding its own breath. I don't know what I was running toward or why, just that I had to keep going. That something inside me needed this.

"Stop!" The voice wasn't a whisper this time. It was real, and close.

I skipped to a halt, heart colliding against my ribcage. A tall figure sprung up from behind an oak, stepping into a beam of moonlight. His hair was dark, tousled, and his eyes were piercing blue that held me in place.

"You don't have an idea what you're doing," he said, his voice a sharp edge.

"Who.....who are you?" I stammered, struggling to hold my breath.

"I'm only trying to save you," he answered. He reached out his fingers brushing my arm, sending a shock of electricity through me. "You shouldn't be here, not tonight, please."

Before I could ask what he meant, another growl rumbled from the shadows. This one was different-closer, angrier. The boy's eyes widened, and for the very first time, I saw fear flash across his face.

"You need to run," he said, the urgency in his tone made confused more. "Now."

"But-"

"No time." He grabbed my hand, dragging me back toward the town. "We're not alone."

A glimpse of movement to my left stopped my heart. An enormous wolf came out from the darkness, its fur as black as midnight and eyes beaming like molten gold. Not like any animal I'd ever seen, and when it locked its eyes with mine, a strange sense of familiarity sparkled through my veins. The boy mumbled beneath his breath and his grip tightened on me. "Mia, run!"

But I couldn't move. My feet felt rooted to the earth as the wolf took a step closer, head lowering, lips pulling back to reveal fangs as sharp as daggers.

Then, without warning, it lunged.

The boy shoved me aside, the force sending me tumbling to the ground. Pain shot up my arm as I skidded on the rough forest floor, but I barely registered it. All I could see was the boy standing between me and the beast, his hands raised as if he could stop it by sheer will.

"Stay back!" he shouted, and to my shock, the wolf halted mid-leap, snarling and pacing as if battling an invisible barrier.

"How did you-" I started, but my voice failed me as the wolf's eyes met mine once more. For a heartbeat, the world froze. A single thought echoed in my head, not my own but foreign and feral:

You are one of us.

Before I could make sense of what I heard, the wolf let out an ear splitting howl that scattered the night, a sound that promised one thing, this was way far from over.

The boy turned to me looking pale and drained. "You need to know the truth, Mia. Your bloodline... it's cursed."

And then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared into the dark, leaving me breathless, worried, and with the realization that nothing in my life would ever be the same again.