Rain slicked the cracked pavement, catching the neon glow of Rex's Diner sign as Ellis Noir pushed through the back door. Midnight air pressed against her skin like a damp shroud. The storm had passed hours ago, but the streets still carried that metallic smell, sharp and cold, as if the night itself was holding its breath.
She pulled her hood tighter, scanning the narrow alley. Normally, she'd take the main road home, but her boss had warned her about a truck stalled on the highway. The shortcut was faster, though it sliced through the industrial quarter — quiet, forgotten, and a little too shadowed for comfort.
Ellis wasn't afraid of the dark. Not exactly. But she'd learned that dark places had their own kind of hunger.
Her boots splashed in shallow puddles. Somewhere behind her, something dripped, steady as a clock. She told herself it was rainwater sliding from a gutter, not footsteps keeping pace.
Halfway through the alley, she heard it — the faint scrape of claws against concrete.
She stopped.
The sound stopped.
A slow exhale escaped her, visible in the cold. "It's just a stray dog," she muttered, though the air seemed to thicken with the lie.
A low growl rolled from the shadows ahead.
Her heart jolted.
Eyes — yellow, bright, and far too high off the ground to belong to any dog — blinked into existence. They moved when she did, smooth, deliberate. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but something primal rooted her feet.
The thing stepped forward. Wet fur clung to a frame too large, too wrong. A wolf — no, not a wolf. Its shoulders were hunched like a man's, its limbs corded with muscle, claws glinting under the weak streetlight. The stench hit her — earth, copper, and rot.
Ellis stumbled back. Her heel struck an overturned trash bin, the crash echoing down the empty street. The creature's head tilted, almost curious, before it lunged.
The world exploded.
Teeth sank into her shoulder, fire lancing through every nerve. Her scream was ripped away as she hit the ground, the weight of the beast crushing her chest. Hot blood spread under her skin like wildfire. Her vision stuttered — alley lights bending, colors splitting.
"Ellis!"
A voice cut through the haze — deep, sharp, commanding. The pressure vanished, and the beast was gone in a blur of black fur.
Hands — human, cold as marble — gripped her face. A stranger knelt over her, dark hair falling into eyes so pale they almost glowed. His skin seemed carved from shadow, his lips curved in something between concern and hunger.
"You're bleeding," he murmured, thumb brushing her jaw. "And you smell… wrong now."
She tried to speak, but her throat burned. He leaned closer, the scent of iron clinging to him like perfume. "If you want to live," he whispered, "you'll stay away from the woods on the next full moon."
And just like that, he was gone, dissolving into the alley as if he'd never been there.
Ellis lay trembling, rain mixing with blood on her skin. The world pulsed red, every sound amplified — the flap of a pigeon's wings, the distant hum of traffic, the whisper of her own heartbeat.
By the time she staggered to her feet, the wound had stopped bleeding. Completely.
The next morning, sunlight stabbed through her blinds like knives. Her sheets were damp with sweat, her body aching as if she'd run for miles. But the bite — the deep, tearing wound — was gone, replaced by a faint crescent scar.
Her phone buzzed. Unknown number. She almost ignored it.
Stay away from the woods. – L
Her stomach dropped. The man from last night.
She set the phone down, trying to breathe. But through the open window came a sound she knew she shouldn't hear in broad daylight — a distant, echoing howl.
It made her blood sing.
And somewhere deep inside, something answered.