MARISA'S MUSINGS - October 24th, 2019: "Red Fang" Part VII

I couldn't believe my ears, but I knew damn well I had heard the creature's exact words! Before I could react it spoke again, "Mar-is-a.... please... end..."

It knew my name... and it was asking me to kill it!

My eyes fell to the rifle on the ground between us. Then I looked to him. His human/wolf shaped face was nothing like the old wolfman movies I watch with my father. Nor was it anything like the faces the more modern movie-makers have come up with. This face was literally moving and reshaping constantly as I stared at him. Only the wolf's eyes themselves never changed, and were watching me the whole time with that pleading look in them. I could see tears running out of those eyes, they were red just like Nathan's. It was those tears that got me.

Instead of reaching for the gun, I reached for the animal to pull him close. At first he tried to recoil, but  then it seemed to realize that I was trying to do, and let me put my arms around it's huge neck. 

You might think I was crazy for hugging such a creature, but how could I not. The poor thing was in agony. Trapped in a body that was not sure what shape it should be taking. It's mind filled with images and memories of another life, a human's life no less. A human who could shift his shape and become other creatures. Walking on four legs, or two, or six... wait, SIX? 

Where the hell had that come from? Nathan never turned into anything with six legs. Now my own mind was becoming confused. I was seeing creatures now, things not of this world. Some reminded me of prehistoric beings I'd seen in books or documentaries, but were still quite different. I held up one of my hands and it was like I was looking at several different images all at once, each layered on top of the other. One of them almost looked like a pseudopod, while another had claws with seven fingers/toes.

What was happening to me... the answer suddenly hit me. The Sangui-Sapio! My tears, the wolf's tears, they were both running down my face. Just as the wolf had accidentally ingested some of Nathan's blood during that hunt, now some of that mixed blood had passed into my skin. The same thing had happened with Isabella all those years ago. When she had slowly been dying in her brother's arms, his tears had fallen onto her skin and been absorbed without his realizing it. 

Now, I don't want to sound like a complete idiot here. Between what happened with Isabella, and that Cannibal Killer who bit Nathan a few years ago, I knew he could infect someone else pretty easily. But he never mentioned the memories. 

Okay, technically he did. Many times in fact. He's always teasing that he has an eidetic memory, but because he's been around for over 150 years, there are a lot for him to sort through to find certain memories. But he never mentioned the 'other' memories. The ones that were not his. Mind you, I'm not talking about the one's I was getting from the wolf in my arms. There were other memories. Old ones, from other Para-Earths...

But I pushed them aside. Right then I only wanted to focus on the wolf's memories. We were connected now in a way I never dreamed possible with any creature, human or animal. The poor thing's anguish ran far deeper than I had first imagined. After having accidentally ingested some of the Sangui-Sapio, it had felt stronger, tired less easily. It had taken down a full moose by itself and the pack had eaten well. And of course with every kill there had been blood, more than enough to satisfy. 

At first this all was fine, but then the nights started getting shorter and he had found the sun becoming uncomfortable and needed to stay in a den. Not that the pack really minded, they were more active at night mostly. But when the nights became shorter and the sun lasted longer and longer, he had had to dig a den and could barely come out unless they had eaten well the night before.

The pack had tried to stick by him after first, but with his inability to hunt as often they began to grow restless. The final straw though had come when he began to 'change' physically. It had happened while he had been sleeping. He had been dreaming, or actually remembering things that had not happened to it, but to another.... namely Nathan. There had been a fight, in a place with stones and death. It was standing on two legs, instead of four and... had awoken with a start hitting it's head on the ceiling of the den. Instinctively, it raised a paw only to find the toes of that paw had elongated. So had the leg attached to it. 

Confused, it scurried awkwardly out of the den (which seemed much smaller than it had remembered) and into the clearing where most of the pack lay. The shock of seeing what had happened to their leader was too much. At first the pack growled, then caught his scent. Confused and frightened they bolted would not return. No matter how hard he tried to catch up with them, they kept running. Only his mate occasionally would stop and look. She even tried approaching him, but then his body would shift some more terrifying even her to the point that she fled.

Alone, and unable to hunt properly, the wolf had started following the smells of food wherever it could find some. Successfully killing sick or wounded prey to satisfy the need for blood. Eventually, it found prey caught in traps and would take from them, but then it began running afoul of humans. 

They had always avoided people. People had long sticks that lit up with a loud noise. Occasionally, this was followed by pain and blood. He had lost prey and even some of his own pack to those noisy sticks. The creature now knew it was called a gun, but how it knew this was confusing. There were so many memories filling it's mind. So much confusion... and the dreams.  Those terrible dreams! Places and creatures it had never seen or experienced, yet it could remember them.

But recently, while feasting on a trapped deer, a man had shown up and used his fired his gun. He had felt the piercing of the... bullet, rip through his side. Instinctively, it turned and ran, but on two legs instead of four. More shots were fired and several hit, but it managed to get away. When it was safe, the wolf had lay down in a cave. With no pack to feed to help keep it warm, it expected to die all alone and forsaken. But instead of death, the pain simply went away and the wounds healed.

"That's when you realized, you couldn't go on..." I murmured aloud, still holding the creature close. "No pack, all alone, and afraid that this painful existence might not ever end."

"Ma-ris-a..." it said once again, in that same broken manner as before. I understood now that it recognized me from Nathan's memories. As that thought passed through my mind, I realized I had Nathan's memories now as well. That startled me. Nathan's thoughts and feelings... were in me now as well.  And I now knew him in ways I'd never dreamed of before.

Suddenly, the both the wolf and I gasped. Pain! Red-hot stabbing pain ripped through our chests. Unable to help ourselves we collapsed to the ground and rolled apart. The pain was beyond belief and the next thing I knew, everything went black.

 TO BE CONTINUED...

(A thousand apologies for leaving you all on this much of a cliffhanger, but I promise not to keep you waiting long for the next installment - Yours Respectfully, Allan)

 

 

MARISA'S MUSINGS - October 24th, 2019: "Red Fang" Part VI

I have to say, the folks at the airport did not waste any time trying to get me indoors and away from the 'creature'. They were so quick, I barely got a chance to look over my shoulder and catch one final glimpse of Nathan in his Man-Wolf form as we got close to the door of the terminal. Unfortunately, one of my 'rescuers' caught my backward glance and also spotted him. Next thing I knew, he was yelling to the other around me and a couple of them were armed with rifles. 

Now I want to point out that no one in my family hunts, so I had no idea just how loud a gun sounds when it's fired. I now understand why people wear those hearing protectors that look like headphones. Damn, those things are loud. My ears were ringing and I could barely make out the sound of the airport around me. Hell, I could hardly hear a plane taking off. Luckily, one of the men who had opened fire was right next to me, and I could barely make out his shout of, "I hit him!" 

For a second my heart skipped a beat, then I remembered they were talking about Nathan not someone in a costume. Surely the Sangui-Sapio inside Nathan had protected anything vital. I know from past experience that it always does. Even if Nathan had been hit bad, the Sangui-Sapio would have either moved the organ in danger to a safe spot, or created a secondary version of whatever had been injured to keep him going. From what Otto has explained to me in the past, if healing could not take place, the new organ would simply replace the original which would simply be broken down and absorbed on a cellular level into the rest of the body. I swear, even knowing as much as I do of what that Para-Earth entity can do, I'm still in awe of it. 

But I didn't have time to dwell on either Nathan or the Sangui-Sapio. My 'rescuers' were busy hustling me past a crowd of lookie-loos who had gathered by the doors leading outside, trying to catch a glimpse of the action taking place outside. Of course, there were a number of podcasters, and Tik-Tokers on hand who tried to get close and ask me and the security people questions about the creature and my encounter with it.

Apparently, Nathan and I had put on a real good show, or someone had spotted the poor wolf itself. In either case, I was now a news story. Yay me! 

Anyway, security took over and had quite the time spiriting me away from the crowd. They wound up leading me to an out of the way office on the main floor far away from the crowd. After getting me a cup of coffee and making sure I was unharmed. Once I assured them for the 12th time that I was fine, then one of the men started asking me what the hell I was doing out side the terminal in the first place? Didn't I know that area was off limits to anyone but airport employees? 

The more he spoke the more he was getting himself worked up. He was shouting now, and several of the others in the room were looking more and more uncomfortable.

That’s when I decided to draw on some of what I had learned in the theater classes I took with Lisa during our last year of high school.  Every, time the guy started raising his voice and getting in my face, I started cringing and flinching. Finally, I practically burst into tears and began babbling hysterically. I wound up telling him I’d never been here before and that I had taken a wrong turn trying to find my way to the ladies’ room, because it was that time of the month and I wound up going through a door that led outside which locked behind me…

That was more than enough to get the “Spanish Inquisition” off my case. He backed off and ordered someone to ask one of the female employees to get me whatever I needed, then exited the room himself. Once a woman came in with what I 'needed' the others exited the room to give me privacy. 

As soon as they left I went over to the one window in the room. From there I could see what was happening outside. Clearly, the hunt for Nathan was still on. I could see bobbing flashlights and brief silhouettes of his pursuers in the distance, beyond the parked planes. I opened the window to see if I could hear anything of what was being said, but it was too noisy out. As I began to close the window I could hear some kind of report coming from over a radio nearby.

It seemed to be coming from the other side of the door to this room. Forgetting the window I sneaked over to the door to listen. Apparently, a security guard had apparently been assigned to keep the 'paparazzi' away from me, and he was currently listening what was going on outside over his shoulder radio. From what I could make out, one of the rangers had been knocked down by the wolf-creature, which had then stolen his rifle and taken off.

I frowned at that. It had to be Nathan's doing, but why? Were they getting too close? Had he been hurt by one of their shots? Maybe, they had caught a glimpse of the real creature and were taking aim.

It sure as hell couldn't have been the wolf who had stolen the rifle. It wouldn't know the first thing about guns, aside from possibly knowing they were dangerous in the hands of a human. 

Suddenly, I heard a clattering noise right behind me and whirled. There before me was the Man-Wolf, while at my feet lay the rifle.

I swear I didn't know whether to be surprised or terrified at that moment. But when it spoke, I nearly burst into tears. For in very broken English it said, "End... me... please..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men... Then There's Me and My Hopes for 2022!

 A whole year of planning, working, sweating, and it still wasn't enough. 

For those who are wondering, I'm referring to my unabridged dramatic reading of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". My plan was to unveil the finished project as a picture book on YouTube. Besides spending hours recording voices, some sound effects, finding music in public domain, as well as dozens of images (also in the public domain) created over the last 150 years since the book's creation... and I still couldn't quite get it across the Finish Line. At least not in time for this Christmas. 

All I have left to do is film an opening and closing to the project, but between work and other audio and writing projects, I just couldn't do it justice this year. 

Now some of you might be asking yourselves, why? Why was this so important to you?  After all, there are so many versions available of the story available on YouTube, streaming services, Blue-Ray, DVD, etc. 

Well the answer is, none of them are 'complete'. There are a number of powerful speeches and even scenes that more often than not, wind up on the cutting room floor. There have also been new scenes created and added to the films that cannot be found in the original story at all. After having read the book cover to cover myself a few years back, I started finding myself reading certain scenes with a variety of different voices for each character. And yes, this is when I really started taking the idea of doing voice over work more seriously. I was having so much fun with these characters and that it took me a while to realize I was drawing upon techniques and skills I learned in my l theater class during my last year of high school. I learned so much in that one year, and I have often found myself regretting I hadn't taken the class sooner and then taken one of the more advanced classes afterwards. Still, I thank my lucky stars and my teacher Mrs. Nina Pfeffer for all her patience and guidance. I learned so much from her.

So after Helen convinced me to bring her books to life in audio, I went back to the idea of doing the same for Mr. Scrooge and company. Helen often refers to me as her "Voice Time Machine", since I can do so many voices of actors who are no longer with us, which allows her to 'cast' the characters from her books and helps her in turn bring them more to life in her writing. And believe me I drew upon a lot of voices of actors both living and dead, to my project. 

And in spite of having a whole year to work on "A Christmas Carol" I could not anticipate back and hip problems which kept me from my 'recording studio' and sitting at the desk to edit either images/audio recordings for weeks at a time. 

Then of course there were other projects that needed my attention as well. I'm wrapping up my 3rd audiobook narration as I write. I also created a couple of book covers over the last 12 months, as well as feeding 3 blogs with material as well. 

With so much going on, I can't feel too bad about not finishing my "A Christmas Carol" project. There's only so many hours in the day, and only so much of me...

Therefore my New Year's Resolution will be to keep being ambitious, but give myself leeway to scale back and not be too hard on myself if I can't get all that I want to done. 

And I do have plans for this coming year, oh yes indeed. Here's a little list:

- Re-work, re-edit, and re-release "The Bridge" in a special 10th Anniversary version.

- Get a complete 1st draft of "The Vampyre Blogs - Family Ties" which takes up mere weeks after      the end of  "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home".

- Release the first volume of "The Pass" trilogy, which I wrote with my old high school friend Rich      Caminiti, with some fantastic illustrations by the talented Gabrielle Callan. We will be releasing this book in hardback (yes, your read that right) and e-book formats. 

    

      NOTE: This one is a definite. The book is already written Gabrielle just getting the last of the

     artwork completed along with the cover.

      

- Rich and I will be working on the 2nd and 3rd drafts of the second installment of "The Pass" trilogy   with hopes of releasing that book in 2023.

    

     *The 1st draft is already completed so we have high hopes of getting this to happen*

- Record and release Helen's 1st solo anthology "Forever W. I. T. C. H. Hunting", which is actually      actually a spinoff from her Forever Detective Series and will feature characters from that series as well as a few new faces who will be appearing in future installments of The Forever Detective books.

- I hope to begin recording "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" with the help of Helen to bring more variety of voices for your listening pleasure.

- We may start adding some podcasts occasionally to this blog and maybe even to YouTube. We have     the equipment and the ability to do it, so you may actually get to see and hear us once in a while.

- Finally, I'm starting to look into voiceover work opportunities for myself this coming year. I'm      already on LinkedIn and have seen opportunities becoming more numerous, as well as over on      Audible. There are apparently opportunities here in and around Santa Cruz, so I may be trying out for a few here and there. It all depends on time and how many spoons I can spare without burning myself out.

So there you have it everyone. We'll see how much I actually accomplish, but time and life will tell. I'm not sure how easy the new year will be starting out with our regular jobs as we're having labor issues with management this time around. So there's a strong possibility of disruptions in our lives in the coming month. So if I go quiet for a while, you'll know why.

We'll see what happens. But in the meantime, we hope the holiday season has been treating you well and that you all have a joyful and wondrous New Year come the end of this week.

Stay safe, and keep writing and recording dear friends.

Merry Christmas...

Still no story and for that I apologize. So much to tell, but I'll leave that for another entry. For now, Helen and I (along with Nathan and company) simply want to wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas. May the season bring you joy, smiles and peace. 

A Little Side-note About Inspiration...

Sorry, still working on the next post which will be told from Marisa's point of view. 

In the meantime, I wanted to share a little something about where I sometimes find inspiration for a story. A few of you may have noticed I've done more than one story involving wolves, even foxes, and how they can wind up interacting with people. Well, I found this video on YouTube about 9-10 years ago, and it had a huge impact on me. I was so enthralled with the story it tells, plus I've met people who have worked and studied wolves over the years that I found this tale quite believable. It has also inspired another story, which I later learned can actually happen in real life, about survival in the harshest times between predators and prey. But that will be a tale for next Christmas, or the next Vampyre Blogs Anthology "Two for the Road", which hopefully will be released next year. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy today's offering, and I'll do my best to get Marisa's ready in time for next weekend.

Until then, stay safe and enjoy the holiday season my friends.

- Allan

Music and Video Credits:

Song: The Mountains Will Remember Us

Artist: Medwyn Goodall

Album: Visions

Licensed to YouTube by:

The Orchard Music (on behalf of New World Music Ltd.); BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, ASCAP, LatinAutorPerf, and 1 Music Rights Societies

YouTube Channel I found this on: 

Arkuss: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSsrwq5gIrcvPHBxB1jNWYg

Apologies...

 Sorry for the lack of new posts, very busy. It's property tax time at my job which means I'm swamped there and still recovering from my hip treatments. Still waiting to start Physical Therapy next month. Also, holidays are on the way. And finally there are deadlines to meet like:

        1 - Film opening and closing of my unabridged reading of  "A Christmas Carol" which will be going               up on YouTube in a couple of weeks.

        2 - Record and edit the remaining chapters of Helen's 4th book "Forever Festive" so it can be                           released next month.

        3 - Finally, get some rest and enjoy the holidays... 

E-Journal of Nathaniel Eoghan Steward - October 24th, 2019 "Red Fang" - Part V

I recognized the tone in Marisa’s voice and knew she was being completely serious. So, I immediately looked in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, standing there amidst the trees across the road, was our quarry. It was still in its wolf/human form. As we watched, the creature kept switching its gaze from Marisa, then to me and back. 

“It must’ve sensed your presence,” Marisa murmured.

I nodded. “The Sangui-Sapio we share is calling out to itself. I felt he was near while I was still on the plane.”

Marisa shot me a puzzled look and I quickly explained what had happened. “I see,” she nodded when I finished and glanced back at the creature across the road. “But why is it choosing a humanoid shape? I would think it would hunt better in its own form.”

“That’s got me puzzled too,” I confessed and told her about the dreams I’d been having. “So, when I saw the article, I knew I had to come. I think the poor creature is stuck and can’t shift back to normal.”

“Do you think the Sangui-Sapio is responsible?” she asked, then frowned. “No that doesn’t make sense. You’ve always told us that the only times the Sangui-Sapio has ever altered your form shape without permission was to keep you safe. Otherwise, it never tries to interfere or takeover.”

“I know, that’s what got me confused,” I told her.

“Not as confused as this poor thing,” Marisa replied and proceeded to cross the street.

Naturally I immediately followed, all the while saying, “Marisa what are you…” Then I stopped myself. The wolf-creature was coming out from among the trees. Its body language was neither hostile or threatening. If anything, it seemed drawn to her somehow… 

And of course, that’s when everything went to hell! 

A passing car’s headlights illuminated the wolf who was completely clear of the trees just then. The sound of tires screeching to a halt, told me that the driver had spotted the poor misshapen animal. Before I could even think, Marisa began shouting at the wolf to take off which it promptly did with amazing speed. 

I think I was the only one not surprised, but that was because my keen eyes saw the animal’s mismatched limbs suddenly shortened or stretched until they were the same length, allowing it to move with a speed only I could match. Not that I did of course, not with the Ranger right there. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the vehicle that had come to a halt was a modified pick-up belonging to an Alaska Park Ranger. The driver was already leaping from his vehicle holding a rifle when the beast disappeared from sight. 

Unfortunately, the wolf had not bolted back into the woods as I’d hoped. Instead, it shot across the road and disappeared between the shadowy buildings of the airport before any of us knew what was happening. 

At that point there was only one thing I could think of doing. I straightened up and did my best impression of Bull Shannon from the show “Night Court” and said, “Ooooo-kay,” in his voice.

I knew he was one of Marisa’s favorite characters from the show, but if you had seen the look she gave me you’d have thought I’d done an impression of Dan Fielding, the sleezy lawyer, instead. 

“Seriously? Is that all you’ve got to say at a moment like this?” she demanded, while pointing behind me.

I quickly got what she meant, because I could hear the Ranger reaching for his radio. I immediately pointed at him and shot my mist in his direction. I wasn’t able to stop him from getting a few words out saying he’d located the creature, but I did manage to get him to tell them to search in the opposite direction from where the animal had fled. I also got him to completely ignore us and take off in the wrong direction. 

“Better?” I asked Marisa, only to find she was already crossing the road again to get back to the airport.

Catching up with her, we’d just reached the edge of the buildings where we’d last seen our quarry in time to hear shouts and running feet. This time I was the one to spot the animal, darting between a couple of hangars. Without pausing, I picked up Marisa and raced towards the buildings. To anyone watching they’d have just seen a blur shoot past, since I wasn’t holding back on the speed. And as for the snow on the ground, I can run on top of it, which meant no trace of our passing would be found. 

As soon as we were in the shadows of the building, I put Marisa down and we both started scanning the area for our friend. But because this was real life and not a Disney or Hallmark Channel story, all we could see and hear were people screaming and scrambling away from the tarmac. Although I had gotten the ranger and his friends heading in the wrong direction, the animal had clearly been spotted by people who were now surging towards terminal to escape and raise the alarm.

As we stood there, we could see security armed with rifles were already pouring out of the terminal and nearby buildings. 

“This is not good,'' Marisa muttered, looking around for our friend. “And I don’t see him anywhere?”

Neither could I, but I knew he was still near. But with security already spreading out to search I didn’t have time to try and zero in on him. But I did know where he definitely wasn’t. “I’m going to lead them off, keep an eye on my stuff, please,” I told Marisa. 

Before she could ask what I meant, I began misting out of my clothes and let them hit the ground. A moment later I solidified a few feet away not as myself but as the ‘werewolf’.

Marisa smiled.

Gesturing with my snout at the security guards I gave her a wink.

“Okay, but you be careful,” she whispered and then let out a bloodcurdling scream that got everyone's attention. Immediately, I bolted from our hiding spot and onto the tarmac, pausing briefly to make sure I was spotted before trying to get away from the terminal area. I purposely alternated running on two feet, then all fours, so as not to discourage pursuit. After all, the whole idea was to lead them away from the area where we knew the creature was. 

Glancing over my shoulder I saw a number of security officers giving chase, as well as a couple who were ‘tending’ to Marisa who was putting on quite the damsel in distress act.  They were leading her into the terminal where she would be safe. Or so I thought. Like I said before, this wasn’t a Disney or Hallmark movie…

TO BE CONTINUED...