Somali Werewolf Prince

I thought about calling my parents, and warning them. Whoever is doing this to me might come after them as well. I thought of my brother Omar in Boston, living blissfully with his fiancée Maryam. In the end, I decided against contacting them. When my dad called for our daily talk, I wished him and mom a goodnight and told them I loved them. They picked up on the stress in my voice and I blamed it on exams. I love you all, I said into the phone as my dad clicked off. Then I looked at my cell. It was close to midnight. I made my way from my dorm to the football field. The same one where I sat with my friends and watched the first-ever football game pitting U of C against McMasters University. We got smashed, but I had a good time.

I walked to the center of the university's football field, and stood there. I stood there, ready to face my fate. For I was done running. Waiting for my enemy or enemies to show up, my mind came up with all kinds of scenarios as to what would happen, none of them good. For a long, agonizing moment I scanned the darkness, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. My kind possess better-than-normal night vision, but like true wolves, werewolves aren't nocturnal predators. In spite of my superhuman senses, I was still caught by surprise when someone showed up.

A dark silhouette carrying a flashlight. In the darkness it looked like...Aaron. Dude what are you doing here? I asked, dumbfounded. I could ask you the same thing, Aaron said coolly. He didn't sound like his usual self, his voice was cold, so unlike the guy who regularly called me amigo. I noticed that he had something in his hand. A machete. What's that for? I said dumbly. Man you are thick, Aaron laughed. I'm here to rid of the world of your freakish species, he said flatly. Oh, was all I could say.

Just wait it gets better, came a voice behind me. I turned around, and my eyes widened in shock when I saw who it was. Liam Valentine, Vanessa's boyfriend and the person I dislike the most in all of Canada, if not the world. Hello freak, he said, flashing that million-dollar smile. You guys are the ones who sent me the note, I said, finally putting two and two together. It catches on quick, doesn't it, the little fur ball? Liam said, derision in his eyes. I flinched as he called me an 'it'. What do you guys want? I said, suddenly feeling tense. We're going to kill you and then dissect you wolf-man, Aaron said cheerfully. In the next instant, Liam cocked a pistol he pulled out of his pocket and aimed it at me.

I stared at the two of them, Liam and Aaron, the former my rival for the affections of a young woman who doesn't know I exist, and the latter, my two-faced so-called best friend. Why are you doing this? I asked, biding my time. I knew the only chance I had of surviving this was to transform. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to summon my inner wolf. Not after I've spent most of my life suppressing it, just like my parents taught me. Now that I needed to tap into the animal power within, it seemed so far away. We've been hunting people all over Ottawa and got bored with the easy killings until we stumbled across you and found out what you were, Aaron said. So you guys know, I said. Liam nodded. We're going to kill you and that monster family of yours is next, he said, laughing. When he mentioned my family, rage welled up within me. You leave them alone, I shouted.

With a primal cry I willed the transformation to occur. Underneath my skin, my bones began shifting. My inner wolf began to surface, shedding my human disguise along the way. A roar escaped my throat, and I ran my tongue over my elongating and sharpening fangs. Shoot him, Aaron told Liam. Cocking the pistol, Liam's finger began squeezing the trigger. I willed the transformation but I knew it wouldn't happen in time. I'm fast, but I am not faster than a speeding bullet. Looks like this is the end of me...

Suddenly, I felt something moving toward us, faster than anything human. Being human, Aaron and Liam didn't sense anything out of the ordinary. Time to die freak, Aaron said, grinning smugly. In the next instant, he fell to his knees, an agonized gurgle escaping his lips. I saw a gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be. What the fuck? Liam said, panic in his voice. My transformation was complete, and I surged toward him. My fangs and claws tore him to pieces. It was a grisly scene. Years later, it would haunt me in my most private moments.

Once I dealt with Liam, I looked at my unexpected savior. My heart thundered in my chest when I realized who it was. Man, this was a night of surprises. Hello stranger, Nadira Mahmoud said, flashing me a bright smile. Blood dripped from her lips. I looked at her, noticing the extreme pallor of her skin, the sharpness of her teeth and the fact that her eyes were bright red now. My yellow eyes bored into them. What are you? I asked. I'm not a werewolf or anything but you hairy boys aren't the only ones who walk in darkness, Nadira said coyly. I still don't know what you are, I said. I'm a vampire, Nadira finally admitted, rolling her eyes.

Why are you here? I asked her. I found the second note when I swung by your place a few minutes ago, Nadira admitted. You were coming to visit me that late? I asked, feeling suspicious of her. Yeah and it's a good thing I showed up, she retorted, hands on her hips. I looked at her, then at the cooling corpses of Liam Valentine and Aaron Fisher. We've got some cleaning up to do, Nadira said, and I nodded. We disposed of the bodies. Don't ask me for details. That's one of a thousand memories I've got that I want to forget. Suffice to say that they'll never be found. Nadira and I went back to our separate residences as if nothing had happened. That night changed my life. I learned that there are other creatures walking the darkness. We werewolves are but one breed. Vampires exist, along with many other so-called supernatural races. Some of them you might know, others even I can only guess at.

I returned to my bed that night, and prayed to Allah, wishing the evening's events had been nothing but a figment of my imagination yet knowing that it wasn't so. The next day, I went to class, and ran into Nadira Mahmoud. How are you holding up? she asked, as we walked through the university center together. The whole thing feels like a nightmare that I can't forget, I admitted. It'll get better, she promised, gently touching my shoulder. I looked at her, seeing only a beautiful young Arab woman, and nothing of the red-eyed, sickly pale and sharp-toothed gal from the night before. Let's hope so, I said, wishing her a good day before walking away.

I ran into Kennedy Lang and Vanessa Rosewood, and playing dumb when they asked me about Liam and Aaron, well, that turned out to be one of the hardest things I ever had to do. It pained me, having to lie to them, but Nadira Mahmoud kept her poker face on, playing the dutiful friend consoling her gal pals in their time of need. Vampires, man. They're something else. Eventually, they went to the police, and a search of Liam and Aaron's apartment revealed some pretty scary things. In the Ottawa area, a lot of women have gone missing and the police have long suspected the work of a serial killer. Well, it turns out that Aaron and Liam had something to do with at least some of those cases. Evidence was found linking them to at least one murder. Overnight they went from missing students to murder suspects, with a Canada-wide warrant out on them.

When the news hit, a media firestorm hit the school, and I was interviewed several times by crime reporters from local papers like The Ottawa Sun and the Metro. I played the role of the hapless university student distraught by the fact that his best buddy was revealed to be a serial killer. My parents called immediately after seeing me on TV, but I assured them that everything is okay. I didn't tell them about Nadira, or what we did. Eventually, the brouhaha over the case died down. Police across Ontario and the rest of Canada are looking for Liam Valentine and Aaron Fisher, but they'll never find them. These two young men were killers, but they got taken out by real monsters. Creatures that are the stuff of myth. Like Nadira and I. You'll never see us coming.

Life goes on, ladies and gentlemen. Something good did come out of all this, come to think of it. Nadira and I are dating now. She's even introduced me to vampire society. There's a lot of them in Ottawa, and quite a few of them attend our school. It seems that vampires exist in far greater numbers than I could have imagined. Oh, and unsurprisingly, a lot of the myths about them are completely untrue. They can function just fine in daylight, they can cross running water, garlic and crucifixes don't do Jack to them, and they can't turn into smoke or bats or whatever. Like us werewolves, they're allergic to silver. They are however monstrously strong, can move at extraordinary speed and yes, they do drink human blood. I get mine from a contact at a blood bank, Nadira told me when queried on the subject. Cool, I said, and linked my arm with hers as we walked through the Rideau Center. We're going to grab some Manchu Wok, then catch a movie. Have a good one, folks.