The first thing you learn about working with werewolves is that they aren’t human any more than wolves are dogs. They might look like us and act like us (depending on their mood), but the minute you forgot who and what you were working with is the minute you found out the hard way why the training classes put so much emphasis on ‘maintaining a dominant position.’

Ironically it was easier to keep the more violent wolves in stable partnerships. They might not be true werewolves in the classical sense, but nothing short of anti-tank weaponry was going to put a dent in their mood when they went on a rampage. No handler in their right mind would lower their guard when faced with daily reminders of just how inhuman their charges could be.

Wolves like Gray, on the other hand, went through handlers like a five year old through candy.

The captain looked across the table at the soon to be ex-partners with a feeling of frustrated déjà vu. The werewolf was alert, but relaxed, his attention focused solely on her… when it should have been focused on his handler. A handler who was sporting a rather impressive collection of bruises and at least three broken fingers from the amount of bandaging on his right hand.

The handler, at least, seemed embarrassed about the whole mess.

[Click here for the Silverwitch Index Page and here for the Novel_in_90 LJ Comm]

.

Into the Woods

Wordcount: 1,235 words
Summary: In which we introduce our setting and our rather surly protagonist Zee, who listens to the Local Alpha With No Name– but only barely.
Read the rest of this entry »

“There are worse things than happy endings.”

Alex looked up from her book to find Kai watching her from one of the fireside chairs. He’d changed since the salle, and was nursing a glass of something that smelled faintly of blood and ginger. “Your definition of happy ending needs some work.”

“I don’t see why.” Make that blood and mulled wine. “I get what I want, you get what you want–”

“And what is it you think I want?”

“To be left alone.”

“Trapped here.”

“You can always leave,” he leaned back in the chair, not quite smirking. “After.”

“The minute they scent you, I’d be dead.” Alex tuned back to her book. “And you know that. Your happy ending is only happy for you.”

“And your happy ending is?”

She gave up on the book and sat-up to face him directly. “Going home: back to car payments and litter boxes, and freshman parties that turn the volume to eleven. And not–” she pointed the book at him, “vampires and curses, and magic castles. I want things to go back to normal.”

“Normal.” He raised an eyebrow. “The local werewolf pack turned you over to me to die, there is a distinct possibility that you may have offended a rather powerful earth elemental, and you just want to waltz back home as if nothing had happened?”

“As opposed to entering into an unbreakable blood-pact with someone who doesn’t seem to think it’s anything more than a curiosity? YES.”

“It’s not ‘unbreakable’–”

“See? No. No, no, no, no. I want,” she snapped, “to go home.”

These snippits are copyright Martha McMahon Bechtel and may not be reproduced or distributed without express permission. All rights reserved.

1. Life is a series of moments, not regrets.

2. The problem with humans in the Pegasus Galaxy boiled down to the fact they weren’t human. Biology only buys you so much, and that’s something they should have learned back on Earth.

3. It was a common story, a spaceship flung off course, its crew doomed to wander an alien galaxy alone… only that had been their goal, so Trish never really understood why every one complained.

4. The problem with being immortal was that you got really tired of death.

5. It was a stupid quest, but she had the afternoon off and she was tired of studying. “A rouge werewolf playing havoc with the fine citizenry of Venn Hall?” She flung the textbook onto the bed with an overly dramatic flourish. “Why lead on McFluff! I follow!” The unicorn sighed and wondered for the umpteenth time if there wasn’t a loophole in the contract he’d overlooked.

6. The pain wasn’t like a knife, or like fire, or ice, or any of a thousand other metaphors. It was pain and it drowned out the world in a white flash of sensation.

7. “He made his choice.”
“No he didn’t. He made a mistake John, a simple stupid everyday mistake. You made a choice.”

These story prompts are released into the wild per Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, so sayth their author Martha McMahon Bechtel.

Technotari Tags: Writing Prompts