"By Night, By Day" by Jeff Burke

Tanil sighed. He could feel the changes starting. Nothing out of the ordinary, really; just a pinch here, or maybe an itch there. But he knew: he had to go. Hastily he excused himself from the conversation he was involved in. He had to force himself not to growl at the question painted all over the others’ faces.

He had to stop at that. Since when had he started growling? He’d always been rather friendly, easy going, he had rarely even frowned at anyone, let alone growl. He’d changed a lot over the last two months. He wondered if he would change more…

The questions remained on the others’ faces, but then, they didn’t know what happened this time every day. How could they? Tanil always made sure he was well away when he changed.

If they found out, they would kill him. No question. Not that it would have been personal. It was just that this community depended on unity, and anyone who broke that unity had to be dealt with.

As soon as he was sure that his friends were deep in conversation again, he ran. He absolouly sprinted up the hill, away from his friends and family. Behind him, Tanil could hear his father barking orders at someone, but that wasn’t unusual. Tanil’s father, Vieto, was kind of in charge around here. And he liked it that way.

Tanil was fairly sure that his father cared for him, but this kind of problem would make Veito kill Tanil in a heartbeat. If it took him even that long.

Tanil jumped into the woods; the thick, heavy scent of decaying trees and mold surrounding him. He stopped running for a minute, and sighed. He loved that smell.

But he couldn’t tarry long. His family might organize a search party and he had to be well away from here when the changes really began.

These itches and twinges were little more than precursors. A warning, so to speak. And while the constant itching was bothersome, he would scratch for the rest of his life if it kept his friends from finding out what he was.

Tanil sighed a little, then began to run through the autumn forest again. He hated this daily ritual. Hated not having some kind of better system than run and hide. It wouldn’t hold out much longer. They were beginning to notice how strange he was acting, the frequency with which he disappeared.

And Tanil knew they were wondering why he smelled odd. The first few times this had happened to him, he’d positively reeked when he’d returned home. He hadn’t been able to even approach someone without eliciting a crinkled nose and a hasty excuse to leave.

It had gotten so bad that Tanil had taken to rolling around in piles of leaves, mud, anything to try and cover the smell. It usually worked, but it invariably brought up questions as to why he was covered in mud, leaves, or whatever he had used.

Tanil had no idea how it worked, no idea how his shape actually changed. All he knew was that he had been running through the woods near his family’s home one night when he had come across an absolouly massive wolf. It had been huge! The thing had bitten him on the leg before he could have even thought about dodging it.

As soon as the thing had let go of his leg, it had turned into a man! The man had been naked and shivering, and Tanil had felt sorry for him, so he had dragged the man to a nearby farmhouse.

If Tanil had known what that man had done in biting him, Tanil would have torn him to pieces.

Tanil sighed. What’s done is done. He’d taken the man to safety, and now Tanil himself was cursed. He had heard it said once or twice that were-wolves changed shape with the full moon. That wasn’t true all. It happened daily. Right with the sunset and sunrise.

He was not looking forward to the change. It was never a fun process, always involving excruciating amounts of pain.

He was almost there. In more ways than one, to be honest. He could see the spot where he made his transformation, and he would get there not a moment too soon. It was a little gully in a field, with a huge bramble bush on top. He could move in and out of it fairly easily, but it was next to impossible to see the inside.

. He dirtied up his nice fur coat while getting in to the bramble, but he could always clean it later. He barely made it. He had no sooner dove into the thicket when he yelped in pain. Everything hurt! His pelvis ached as it completely rearranged itself for an entirely different style of walking. As different as two legs and four legs. His fingers were agony as they twisted and reshaped themselves. His spine cracked loudly as it curved and contorted, eliciting a loud groan.

But worse was his face. His nose and mouth were fire as they rearranged themselves around his new teeth. Before long, he was positively howling in agony.

Then it was over, all the pain gone. For a while, Tanil simply rested. After several minutes had gone by, he crawled out of the thicket and took a look at himself stretched out in the grass. Glancing to the east, he growled at the rising sun. He thought about using his new lips to curse; he was learning English very fast, and some of the words were very interesting.

But what was the point? The only reason to swear is for someone to hear it, and there wasn’t anyone who would understand him for some distance.

A slight breeze made Tanil shiver in spite of the sun. It was bloody cold without fur! That brought him short; he was even cursing in his thoughts now. He held up his soft pink hand, turning it over from side to side. Glancing up at the bright morning sun, he sighed.

It was going to be another long day