By the Pale Moonlight Ch. 03

James released Canes neck and with a loud howl jumped off of his beta and ran. His thick body suddenly covered in hair. His nose and mouth lengthened and limbs shortened and broke. Jagged blades shot out of his paws and sharp teeth released down into his mouth. He howled loudly again as a large hawk swooped in beside him. They raced toward Daniel, wherever he may be, James will find him. No one disobeyed a direct order from the alpha.

If Daniel wants to act like a child, he will be treated like a child. He will be disciplined.

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Tara walked into her dorm room. After her encounter with Daniel she didn't have much of a desire to be outside anymore. Her room was a mess. Barbie's clothing was scattered all over the floor as were her damp towels. Her bed was completely unmade and her makeup was scattered all over her desk. Tara debated with herself. Should she clean up her roommate's mess? She decided against it simply kicked all of her belongings under or near her bed.

If Tara had any intention of taking that heavenly shower, she would have to do some much needed laundry first. She grabbed a large mesh bag out of her top dresser drawer and emptied her dirty clothes bin into it. She scoured her room for any hidden clothes before tossing the heavy bag over her shoulder.

Luckily her dorm had a laundry room, but unfortunately It was deep in the basement. That meant she would have to take the creepy cement stairs down to the sublevel. The stairs were technically off limits to students but the lock had been broken long before Tara moved onto campus, and the school either had no idea, or was too cheap to care. Either way it meant she didn't have to take that death trap of an elevator.

Tara grabbed a bag off of her computer desk that contained a small box of detergent and a book and headed out of her room. It was late afternoon and many of the other students in her dorm were getting ready for parties. Their doors were open and loud music poured out into the halls. A brunet laughed loudly as she pushed past Tara and walked into one of the rooms. She gave Tara a dirty look before closing the door.

"That creepy girl from Beths' room just bumped into me, what a freak" Tara heard the girl say loudly, followed by sharp rude laughter.

Just once, Tara wished she belonged somewhere. She wished she had some actual friends, not 'friends' like when she was in high school who would only talk to her outside of school so no one else would know. Real friends, ones who liked her for who she was, crazy obsessions and all.

Though that crazy obsession of hers was turning more and more into her reality.

Before she knew it she was on the first floor staring at the thick wooden door of the subbasement stairs. She set her bag of laundry down briefly and opened the heavy door. The stairwell was dark and cold; yellow, sullen, emergency lights on the walls barely lit enough to see the ground.

Tara quickly walked down the cement stairs. She tried not to concentrate on the clicking of her shoes echoing through the darkness.

At the bottom of the stairs she opened the door into the subbasement. It was a long tight hallway not much brighter than the stairwell. She walked down the hall and turned right at the end into the laundry room. The elevator was directly across, almost mocking her for taking the long route. The only other doors in the basement were the janitors closet and the boiler room, both on the opposite side of the hall and both locked.

The laundry room was seemingly out of place in the basement. It was well lit and filled with brand new machines. Tara walked over to a washer; she put her laundry in and turned to sit down and wait.

Sitting at the table in the corner was a girl, how had Tara not noticed her when she walked in?

The girl was hunched over a book, her dark brown hair hung long and covered most of her face. She wore light blue jeans and a white button up shirt. Tara didn't want to bother her, she looked very into her book, but she wasn't about to stand for two hours.

"Hi, sorry to bother you. Do you mind if I sit down?" She girl looked up from her book, she brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were large like a doe and the palest blue you've ever seen; they looked almost white. Her face was delicate like a porcelain doll and her lips small like a geisha's smile.

"Sure, I don't see why not." She spoke in a whisper like a mouse. Tara sat down but couldn't look away from the girl. There was something captivating about her, she seemed like such a weak delicate being; But something about her eyes worried Tara.

"I'm Tara, I live up on 214. I can't believe I've never seen you before, are you new?" It seemed like suddenly Tara was meeting and noticing all sorts of new people.

"Yes, actually, I only started a few days ago." The girls' words flowed like a stream, every word seemed a magical spell, and for some reason Tara could see it; The magic swirled around her like the wind. "My name is Claire."

"That's odd to start so late in the semester, were already on midterms." Claire just shrugged, and looked back down at her book. "anyways what are you reading?"

Claire looked up again and smiled a tight lipped smile "Anne Rice." She lifted up the book to show the title 'Interview with a Vampire'.

"oh I love that book! I love most of Anne Rice's novels! Are you here studying under Professor Miller?" Tara couldn't contain her excitement. She was hoping to finally find someone interested in monsters.

Claire laughed and shook her head.

"I hate this book, the ignorance of that women! It's like a comedy to read." She laughed loudly and threw her head back, "don't tell me you actually take what that quack says seriously? Why this school funds her research is beyond me."

Tara felt her heart slip into her stomach, just another girl laughing at her beliefs.

"no of course not, that would be silly." Tara said lowly and pulled a book out of her bag. She looked down and pretended to read the words on the page.

They sat in silence. The clock on the wall ticking through Tara's embarrassment.

Bzzzz.

Tara's washer stopped. She stood up and put her book down. She looked over at Claire, she was sitting hunched over giggling to herself while reading one of Tara's book.

Tara grabbed her wet clothes out and threw them into the dryer. She placed a few quarters into the machine slot and pushed. It didn't budge. She pushed again, nothing. She placed both of her hands on it and with all of her might pushed as hard as she could. The metal piece shot forward and Tara's hand slipped sliding against the sharp broken metal above the dryer. The dryer rumbled on.

"fuck fuck fuck." Tara said to herself as she looked at the crimson running down her hand. Suddenly a petit hand grabbed her wrist. Tara jumped and pulled her wrist away, only to have it go nowhere.

Tara looked up; Claire's small hand was holding her wrist, her grip was strong and sure. Tara tried to pull away only to have Claire hold on tighter.

"Ow, Claire your hurting me, let go." Tara looked at Claire and gasped. Her eyes were bloodshot, it looked like she had been awake for days. "Claire, please let me go"

"If he doesn't come for you, someone else will"

Professor millers words rung in Tara's ear.

Claire sniffed Tara's palm and shivered in ecstasy; She closed her eyes and moaned.

"Little piglet" Claire's words slithered out of her mouth, "You smell like herbs and earth, what are you!"

Claire's mouth opened to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth. Her face cracked, her nose collapsed into itself leaving two nostril holes and her doe eyes, now blood shot and red, pierced into her eyes. Tara was paralyzed. She couldn't move. She began to panic.

Tara looked into Claire's eyes, she could see the magic again. The swirls of dust and fountains of smooth liquid flowed around her. Tara reached out with her mind and grabbed it.

"GET OFF OF ME" Tara screamed and with all of her might pushed both of her arms forward and out of Claire's grip.

Claire screamed, blood curdling and sharp like a knife. She grabbed her head as her body was thrust backwards. She hit the table with such force that it broke completely in half, and began convulsing. White foam collected around her mouth and blood seeped out of her large doe eyes.

Tara screamed. She backed up slowly to the door, keeping her eye on the writhing creature in front of her. The second she hit the hallway she ran. She ran as fast as she could.