3

Incognito II

The creature was in the figure of a man, but his features were strikingly different. He stood tall, around six feet, with a muscular build that exuded both power and grace. His skin had a subtle, dusky tone, and his eyes were a piercing, ice-blue that seemed to glow with an inner light. His hair, thick and raven-black, framed a face that was both rugged and handsome, with high cheekbones and a strong jawline.

His hands, though human in shape, were tipped with sharp, retractable claws, and his movements were fluid and predatory. Despite his fearsome appearance, there was an undeniable allure to him, a magnetism that drew the eye and held it. His clothing, simple and well-fitted, highlighted his physique without concealing his lupine nature.

Every inch of him exuded an air of danger and mystery, yet his expression, in that moment, was one of vulnerability. The creature whimpered in fear, his usually confident demeanor replaced by a haunting sense of dread.

“Hurt you?” Elijah asked. “We should be the one begging you not to harm us.”

“I’m not the one holding the sharp, dangerous looking arrow, am I?” The creature pointed to the arrow in Elijah’s hands. Suddenly, everywhere started beeping red, our noise had alerted the security so they were putting the whole place on lockdown

“Oh Shit” I started panicking “How do we get out of here, we have to find a way out of have. I could lose my job for this. Elijah why the fuck did you make me come here?!”

“Just relax. Panicking never solves anything.” Elijah said, trying to calm me down. “There should be another way out of this place.” “You want to get out of this place?” The creature asked. “Why didn’t you just say so?” The creature kicked the wall and it broke, exposing a big hole in the place that there was supposed to be a wall. The creature lifted me off the ground and held me by the waist.

“I would have helped carry you across too…” The creature said to Elijah “But you’re holding a weapon. So good luck.” The creature smiled with one cheek and hopped out through the hole. The hole wasn’t a far distance away from the ground so I’m certain Elijah would take the jump, and I was right, He jumped and was soon with us.

I moved a bit away from the creature, my fear of losing my job made me momentarily forget that I was standing before a creature that just kicked open a concrete wall.

“Who are you?” I asked

“The man who just saved your life” He said winking at me. “You’re welcome by the way.” “Let me rephrase that.” I said again. “What are you?” “What do you mean?” He asked “I’m normal just like the rest of you.”

“Normal?” I asked. “You just emerged from bones and you’re calling that normal? Humans can’t do that.”

“You’re a human?” The creature asked. “Shit, I must be really far from home then. What year is it please?”

“2024”

“You’re certain it’s not 1725?”

“Yeah I’m sure”.

“You’re telling me I’ve been gone for 2000 years?!”

“…”

“It means we must’ve lost the war. Since I died and all.”

“I’m lost right now.” Elijah was the one to speak this time. “What’s going on? What war are you talking about? What are you?”

“Could we go to a place more private?” The man asked. “I know I shouldn’t be trusting humans but since I’m going to need your help, I might just have to make an exception.”

Sure.” I answered him and took him to my house. Maybe that was not so wise after all. He was an extremely strong creature and partially. Immortal. He couldn’t kill us both in an instant if he wanted to but I was not really in a clear frame of mind so I moved on impulse.

We sat seated in my living room, surrounded by the familiar warmth of well- loved furniture. The walls, painted a soft shade of cream, were adorned with framed abstract paintings. A large, overstuffed couch dominated one wall, it’s deep blue fabric worn but inviting with a patchwork quilt draped over the back. Two matching armchairs flanked a coffee table cluttered with magazines, a couple of books, and an empty teacup.

“Anyway,” He Started “My name is Claud and I’m a werewolf. Up till today, I hadn’t seen humans, just heard about them in stories told by my mom. I’m pretty much Immortal, only a few things can actually hurt me and possibly kill me. That arrow for instance is one of them. It killed me but the moment you took it out of me, it stopped suppressing my powers and I was able to regenerate all the organs and blood I had lost. I just fear that I might’ve returned too late. Before I died, there was a clash of clans going on. A war between the mountain wolves and the forest wolves, all fighting for supremacy. We- the mountain wolves are generally stronger and faster although we were largely outnumbered by the forest wolves, It didn’t deter us because one of us can easily take down five to seven forest wolves. But something went wrong, the humans interfered. They learnt of the existence of wolves somehow and came to kill us all to reclaim their planet or whatever. They were using the one weapon that could actually kill us- wolfsbane.”

I was really intrigued. His story felt like a movie. It was so exciting.

“The humans came and started attacking everyone.” Claud continued. “They didn’t know who was who so they pretty much killed as many wolves as they could and I guess I was one of those killed. I have been gone for some time so I don’t know how things work now. That’s why I need your help. I need to find out if my mom or any member of my clan survived so that we can be reunited. Please, you have to help me.”

He looked at me with wide, pleading eyes, the kind that a child might use when begging for an extra cookie before dinner. His lower lip jutted out slightly, quivering just enough to emphasize his desperation. Despite his adult frame and the faint stubble on his chin, the expression was disarmingly childlike, almost comically out of place. His eyebrows arched upwards in a perfect imitation of innocence, creating an overall look that was impossible to resist.

“Damn, fine.” I finally gave in. “I’ll help you. I’ll need some information to work with though. Do you remember the name of any member of your clan?”

“Yes my mom.” Claud smiled “Tara wolf”

“Your Surname is wolf? Like because you’re a werewolf?” Elijah Started laughing uncontrollably until I looked at him with a stern gaze. “Fine… fine. I’ll be quiet.”

I brought out my laptop and looked her up. I found her almost immediately. She was the CEO of Verdant innovations, a leading company in sustainable agricultural technology. Verdant Innovations developed cutting-edge solutions to enhance crop yields while preserving natural resources. They also dealt with herbs and stuff like that. She was filthy rich but that wasn’t too surprising though. If you were alive for 2000 years and you’re still broke, it’d be better you just take a wolfsbane and stab yourself in the heart because you’re a very stupid person.

“That’s her! That’s her!” Claud was smiling with glee. “My mom. What magic is this? How did you put my mom inside that big glowing screen? Mom! Are you okay?”

“No… No… No.” I said trying to explain to him. “Your mom is not here, she’s in Manchester, England at 15 Tib Street, Northern quarter. This thing you’re seeing is just a picture of her. You know, when you draw something.”

“Ok” Claud said “ I understand. Let’s go meet her then.”

“It’s late. I have to sleep.” I said “I know werewolves howl at the moon and are awake at night and stuff like but we humans need at least seven hours of sleep. We’ll go there tomorrow, don’t worry.”

“Speaking of time,” Elijah said, he’s been awfully quiet for some time now. Quite strange for a chatter box like him. I have to start heading home now. It’s late”

“Alright cool. I’ll see you tomorrow” I said

To Elijah before turning to Claud. “Do you have anywhere to stay for the night?”

“Well, I’ve been dead for 2000 years,” He said. “I’m Pretty sure my home mountain has been colonised already.”

How could I have asked someone who was dead for 2000+ years if he had Somewhere to stay? That was stupid. How would he have some where to stay after being gone for 2000 years. Wait, if he had no where to stay and he’s in my house currently, does that mean he’ll have to spend the night alone with me in my house? No… No...No. This Can’t happen.

“Elijah! Elijah!” I dashed towards the door and opened it to get Elijah to take Claud with him but Elijah was long gone. So I guess this means that this werewolf man was going to be in my house with me this night.

“He’s not in range anymore. I guess you’ll be Spending the night here. Make yourself comfortable, you’ll have to spend the night here on the Couch.”

“Alright that’s cool” Claud said “I used to sleep on an actual rock so this is a massive upgrade. It’s so soft and colourful. I love it!” Claud hugged the couch smiling. It was really funny. I guess since he died in the 1700’s all these advancements in technology came after his time so they are all still very strange to him. I went inside my room and locked the door- just in case. I fell asleep quickly because I was really tired. It had been a very long day.